Transient Eternity
by BlueAngel7810
Summary: Leon's friends never understood why he couldn't forget his past and move on with his life, but now is about time they found out. Time is running short and he knows it. Even when his memories haunt him, Leon and his friends carry on on their quest to save his beloved from an unescapable death. Squinoa / SquallxRinoa whatever...
1. Chapter 1

**_~Transient Eternity.~_**

_-Chapter 1-_

"_You're just like Cloud! " _

"_It's not like that Yuffie…" _

"_Yes it is! You just keep running away, can't you stop mourning about the past for more than ten minutes!?"_

* * *

There. He climbed up the stone steps, slowly but sure. He hadn't been to this place in a long time…Radiant Garden or -more likely- Hollow Bastion's castle.

* * *

"_You just don't get it, leave me alone now" he said, trying to keep his cool over her… quite unpleasant assumptions._

"_See, you're running again! I don't recognize you Leon, what's got into you!?"_

"… _Gone talking to a wall…" he answered sharply._

_The petite ninja sighed and was about to walk away when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and turned back to him. From his spot leaning against the wall, Leon could see the glint of determination in her grey eyes._

"_It's because of __**her**__, isn't it?"_

* * *

Come to think of it, the place hasn't changed all that much. The same stone walls, just a bit more broken. The same houses, most of them burnt to the ground today. The same orphanage he had grown up in before going to the castle…It's all grey now. Yeah… it did change…

He was back in the castle. As he passed the library he remembered her sitting there in a corner among all the books. She used to put them in piles around herself to hide from people who called her for some duties… or just to be able to steal a peek at him when he was looking for her. It did work for the guards; they never found her anyway… But he was never one to fall for the same trick twice.

He was tempted to smile at the memory but he couldn't. He had to keep his resolve and go on until he reached his goal.

* * *

"_Get out." he gave Yuffie a dangerous glare, one which could melt a whole iceberg._

"_Seems like I struck a nerve" she said almost jokingly. He was in no mood for that at this precise moment. He just cast his gaze back to the window, admiring the starry sky through the rainy clouds like he always did ever since __**that**__ night._

"_Why won't you let us help? Tifa, Aerith and I, even Cid is worried about you Squall!"_

"_Don't…Call me that."_

"_Why do you care anyway? Just explain!"_

"_Whatever…" _

_*she just doesn't get it* he thought_

"_You're so hopeless!" she burst out, exasperated._

"_Now that you finally came to that conclusion, can you please leave" he said in a low tone, trying to keep his temper from rising._

_Yuffie's frown just deepened, anger boiling within her.*This guy is just so frustrating* she thought._

_Something in him changed after Radiant Garden's fall. He lost __**her**__, the love of his life. Ever since then his façade had never failed him. He avoided getting attention from everyone by keeping this calm yet determined demeanor…But…The cold and lonely man who kept everything to himself was still there, she knew it and so did the others. That part of him started showing more and more these days. Her friends had promised to try and talk to him to figure out a way to help. She couldn't find it in her to wait though. That's exactly why she started this conversation when she spotted him leaning against a wall, staring up at the stars with that melancholic look of his upon his face._

_But what he had just said…Dammit, she was just trying to help! Why did he keep pushing her and the others away when it came to his problems? It was quite unusual… Her anger just took the lead, and even though she knew that when that happened the worst things always flew out of her mouth, she couldn't help it anymore._

"_You're not getting out of this Squall! We're just worrying about you, why don't you let us help? But no…You just HAVE to be the cool, lone wolf who lurks in the dark! What the heck! There, I'll say it: She's…"_

"_Get out of here Yuffie!" He had had just about enough. Who was she to lecture him about the way he led his life? True he had been distant and…Rather gloomy these days but he always was at this time of the year. It was just the first time Yuffie -and all the others for that matter- had actually noticed. He knew he was about to explode and he had to get her away from him before he said or did anything stupid. Only what he didn't know was that Yuffie had already crossed the line._

"_You're so selfish! She's dead Squall! Rinoa is dead! Now move on and…"_

"_SHUT UP!" his voice was icy cold, infused with venom and pure rage. The short-haired ninja was thunderstruck. She couldn't finish her sentence as he stormed across the room for the door. He clenched the door's handle and barely turned to face her with his cold stormy eyes hidden behind his bangs._

"_I know…She's not dead."_

_He slammed the door behind him._

* * *

_*I just have to check* _he thought, walking straight through the empty halls and corridors of the castle. He passed many closed doors, never tripped on the dusty folds of the long carpet even when his eyes were always directed straight ahead of him, determined. Most of the paintings and chandeliers that once decorated this place were broken down or burnt…What a great job the Heartless (AN/: see notes) did in destroying the whole place…

He froze when he reached one particular room. That's where he had met her all those years ago back when they were just clueless teens. Eight years…maybe more. It felt like it had all happened yesterday.

He remembered looking at the endless night sky through the glass ceiling when he saw a light shooting across the sky. That's when their gazes met…

* * *

_Chocolate brown met stormy blue. Since she kept looking intently at him for so long, he felt like he actually had to look away. He was quite stunned though, when he realized she had made her way to him. He took the opportunity to have a better look at the short girl who kept staring at him all along with her shiny brown orbs. Her dark ebony hair reached down her back to her shoulder blades and had some toffee colored streaks if you looked close enough. She had porcelain skin clashing with her silky looking hair though he did notice the slight rosy tint on her cheeks. She was wearing a short vanilla silk dress that was tied up behind her neck by a thin lace. A lonely ring hung by a silver chain around her neck. She just stood there, probably inspecting him as well. He was forced to wear his military uniform to come here (not that he intended on going in the first place). It was just plain black and uptight. When he looked back at her he clearly saw the playfulness in her eyes._

"_You saw it too, right?" she said, her voice nice and sweet. He raised an eyebrow at her not quite comprehending what she meant._

"_The shooting star." She explained. He just grunted in response, small talk had never been his strongest point._

"_You're not really the talkative type, are you?" she giggled. Still no answer. She extended her hand to him with a smile. "So, hey! I'm Lenore, what's your name?"_

"_I'm not about to tell you my name if you lie to me about yours." He answered sternly, looking her straight in the eyes._

_She froze. Not because the tall brown haired man in front of her had actually talked but more because of the fact that he knew who she was. __**What**__ she was. She frowned, suddenly finding a great interest in observing the floor… He wanted to kick himself hard for saying that so coldly when she was just trying to be friendly to him. Not many people actually tried to do that. The only thing was that he didn't expect anyone and above all __**her**__ to make a try and have a conversation with him. He saw a slight frown appear upon her face. He knew he had to say something._

"_The name's Leonhart."_

_She looked up at him with her mouth slightly agape, apparently surprised that he hadn't told her to go away._

"_Is that your first name..?" she inquired shyly._

"_Nah, it's Squall. Squall Leonhart."_

_She smiled slightly. "Ok so, let me try this again: Nice meeting you Squall, I'm Rinoa Heartilly."_

_She extended her hand once more and he shook it this time. She gave him a warm smile and he looked away, trying to avoid meeting those hypnotizing orbs of hers._

"_Why did you give me a fake name instead of your real one?"_

"_Oh…It's just…" she began hesitantly. Should she really tell him? It's embarrassing…No. She had to be honest to him if she wanted the same from him."People tend to think I'm some kind of alien if I tell them straight away who I am. I hate it. I don't want to be considered like that, I'm just like any other people."_

"_Yeah, it's understandable." He shrugged._

_The silence was getting uncomfortable. They kept averting their gazes when their eyes met and shifted uneasily, she felt the need to lighten up the mood._

"_Squall…Could you do me a favor?" she asked in a tone similar to the playful one she had a few minutes ago._

"_What kind?"_

"_Dance with me please!" she beamed._

_He was puzzled for a second before he was briskly dragged halfway across the room to the dance floor by the raven haired girl._

"_I can't dance!"He defended himself, desperately trying to convince her to let him go back to the comfort of the corner of the room. She would hear none of it. Soon they were waltzing (more like stumbling in his case) around the marble dance floor._

_After what seemed like to be the greatest ordeal of his life, Rinoa led –dragged- him yet again to a lonely corner of the ballroom. There, she started talking and babbling about all kinds of stuff. He usually wouldn't have been one to pay attention to her for so long but he found himself being quite intrigued by what she said and just kept listening, dropping the occasional question every now and then…Never had he been so talkative…Especially when she started questioning _

_him about his life. He didn't say anything too personal. He just told her about his training at the castle's academy. How he wanted to become the best soldier there was to protect Radiant Garden and his 'family' back in the orphanage. About all these times when he was found sweating through his suit in the castle's corridors after two extra hours of practice. He told her about his determination to become the youngest gunblade master at the age of 17 and how well he was started on that._

_She, on the other hand, started talking about her boring studies in the castle. How she was forced to stay in a room for hours straight to practice some hard spell. She was willing to do it, even if it meant loneliness and being locked up in the castle for so long…It was her job to learn how to protect Radiant Garden. That was the __**Sorceress**__' duty._

"_Did they even find you?" He asked after she told him a story of hers._

"_The guards? Of course not! I'm too good for them. I just spent the whole afternoon reading in a hiding spot I have in the library!" she said in a fit of giggles._

"_Weren't you bored?"_

"_Not at all! I love reading…What about you?"_

"_I don't hate it. It's just that I don't often have time for that. I spend most of my free time training."_

"_You do? Don't you hang out with friends sometimes?" she asked a bit perplexed by such an answer. Was he that much of a workaholic?_

_He gave a bitter chuckle. "You could say I'm quite the lone wolf out here."_

"_Oh…I see…" she said apologetically."I'm sorry."_

"_Don't be, it's alright." He said simply. He really did seem not to mind._

_There was a heavy silence between the two after that. Rinoa felt bad for saying something like that so carelessly and at the same time was sad about him being so lonely. She stared at the floor for a moment before she came up with an idea._

"_Hey Squall…I don't have many friends either you know…" She cursed herself for sounding so hesitant and lame._

_He turned to her with a quizzical look plastered upon his face so she continued, trying to sound a bit more confident._

"_I thought that, since we're both lone wolves, we could spend more time being lonely together..?" Damn, it sounded much better in her head. His grayish-blue eyes widened a bit more and he turned his head back to his cup of champagne, apparently thinking about the matter at hand. How she wanted to cast an ultima spell on herself right now… "Maybe…" she shut her eyes tight awaiting the heavy and icy 'No' he was about to give her._

_Since he was still deep in thoughts- staring at his cup, with a hand on his temple, frowning a bit- she breathed a sigh._

"_Forget it, it doesn't matter…"_

"_No, I'd like to."_

_Forgetting whatever he was thinking about, he quickly seized the opportunity, hoping that it wasn't too late. When was the last time someone had actually tried talking to him? Rinoa had given him a chance, he surely wasn't expecting it but she still did. And…There was something about her…Maybe it was just her sorceress powers but he really wanted to spend more time with her…_

_The young girl was stunned once again. She'd have to get used to it, with a guy so special…He seemed so different yet so close to her. A dark and lonely swordsman and a sorceress…Such an unexpected friendship was surely worth a try!_

"_Yippee!" she exclaimed, just when he thought he had said something wrong. She jumped into his arms with such force, he had to struggle to keep his balance and not make them both fall to the ground._

_Not so used to close physical contact as he was, he found himself turning several shades of red- each being deeper than the previous one- before she looked back up at him with a blush on her face as well._

"_Sorry about that, I'm just so happy!" she said with a Cheshire like grin on her face. "So where should we meet? I'm so looking forward to it! I was getting tired of rereading all my books…"_

"_I thought you enjoyed it."_

"_Huh? Ah yes but..!"She attempted to defend herself, blushing madly in embarrassment._

_He gave a light chuckle. She was soon laughing too._

"_Let's make it tomorrow in the entrance hall at three then. Is it alright..?" he suggested._

"_Yes!"_

_A short silence followed and he looked at the great clock above the entrance doors. It was already 10.50. He hadn't realized they had been talking for so long. When he faced her again he realized she was also watching the clock._

"_I have to get going" she said a bit disappointed to see such a great evening come to an end. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then!" She smiled brightly at him and started walking away leaving him motionless on the spot. After a few steps, she turned around to face him again and spoke in a soft tone._

"_Squall…I just feel like I have to say it so…I'm glad I met you tonight."_

_She then stormed out of the ballroom. Squall had yet to process just exactly what had happened to him._

* * *

There he was again, standing at the very same place that they had that night, only now when he looked up at the ceiling he saw no glass at all. It had shattered to the ground in a million pieces during the Heartless' attack along with the many chandeliers that once gave a golden glow to the room. The marble dance floor where she had dragged him so long ago… It was stained in dry dark blood and ashes; all the pearls and glass from the ceiling and chandeliers were scattered all around it, not so shiny anymore. The heavy rain went through the broken ceiling and soaked the whole place, Leon included.

He felt the glass pieces crumble under his shoes as he finally got out of his trance and walked away from the ballroom. He passed the vestibule where guests used to wait before they were allowed to go into the ballroom and finally got to the corridor that went along the castle's wall and gave a great view of the back garden. It used to be so colorful… he could see the flowers through some of the also broken windows, they didn't bloom anymore and the once green grass was half burnt. Some trees had fallen down, others were also burnt… In the distance he could see the great maze's hedges where Rinoa used to hide when she was upset. Strangely enough, it wasn't so damaged. Maybe the Heartless didn't manage to reach it. Had he been able to see a bit farther past the maze, he could maybe have seen the field, their flower field…

No time for daydreaming again. Leon kept on going, fearing his resolve would shatter if he didn't. Finally, he arrived at the end of the corridor; he had kept his head down since he went through the ballroom and hadn't noticed he was already there. He placed himself right in front of the dead end's wall and then took eight steps back, there he pivoted to his left and pressed a precise stone on the old wall. Just as he remembered, a complicated star shaped symbol appeared and shone on it before disappearing, the wall vanishing along with it.

Leon walked through and down the stairway leading to his destination keeping his resolve as strong as possible. _*No going back now. I just have to go and check…*_he thought. The only thing he feared now was that he wouldn't find it in him to leave again when he saw…**Her**… When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs he had to squint a bit because of the darkness of the large room, the only source of light being an old lamp that went out years ago. He quickly lit it with a lighter he had brought just in case. Even then it was barely any better, but he didn't have to look around for too long before he found who he was looking for.

"Rinoa"

* * *

_To whoever read this, thank you very much! This is the first story I posted on and I hope you enjoy it, reviews are of course welcome! I won't post the next chapter until I get at least **one** review (I'm not asking for much) since I have to know if anyone is reading this fic so please, leave a review it's just down below and I would be so thankful to know someone read this!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for reading Transient Eternity, second chapter starts right below!**

_**~Transient Eternity~**_

_-Chapter 2-_

The rain had doubled in strength after Leon's departure and pounded hard on the roof as Yuffie sobbed in her crossed arms on the table. Right after their argument she had somehow managed to drag herself to a nearby chair at the table and had started cursing and mumbling about him under her breath before she burst out crying and ended up in her current position.

"Oh gosh! I'm entirely soaked!"

"Tell me about it Aerith!"

The two voices belonged to Aerith and Tifa coming into the room from the front door completely drenched after their stroll in town for grocery shopping. Water dripped from both their hair and clothes. They were soon followed inside by Cid and two quite unexpected guests Yuffie would have jumped on if she hadn't been so preoccupied with her own worries at the moment.

"Hey Leon, gimme some godamn tea dammit!" Cid shouted across the room as he tried drying his shirt as best as he could.

How surprised they were when they saw Yuffie crying her eyes out on the dining room table.

"Yuffie, what happened?" Aerith asked dropping her grocery bags, worry was written all over her face.

"Where's Leon?" Tifa inquired in the same motherly tone.

"He…He…I'm so sorry guys…" she said in between sobs.

"Tell us what happened, please."

The last one to speak in a soft tone was none other than a petite red head girl dressed in pink with deep sea blue eyes: Kairi. Right behind her stood the only boy who could compete with Cloud in a matter of spiky hair, Sora.

After the initial shock and happiness to see them again (they didn't come to visit so often after all), her frown returned again and some more tears started rolling down her cheeks. With a lot of willpower, Tifa and Aerith managed to comfort the small ninja and to get an explanation from her.

"Oh Yuffie…" Tifa sighed.

"I'm so sorry guys. He was just so down these days and…I was annoyed and…I said stupid things and…"

"Err…Guys?" Sora interrupted hesitantly. Everyone looked around at him. He gulped, "Who's Rinoa?"

The silence that followed was so heavy that the young keyblade wielder wanted to hit himself for bringing that question up. But he didn't quite understand who they were talking about. Leon and the others had never mentioned anyone called Rinoa. Only Kairi seemed to understand him and looked back at the others with the same innocent questioning look.

"Yeah, that kid doesn't talk much about his damn past, huh." Cid said in a tone that sounded a bit off for him.

"Of course, he never mentioned her ever since the Heartless' attack on Radiant Garden."Tifa added darkly.

"I'm surprised you even knew about her Yuffie." Aerith told the young ninja.

"I just heard that a girl called Rinoa had been his girlfriend at some point. I didn't think it would have such an impact on him." She admitted truthfully.

"I think she was way more than that to him."Tifa gave a bitter chuckle." I didn't know him so well back then but, I did know that that girl was special."

"What do you mean!?" Sora burst out. Kairi nudged him in the ribs.

"She was the Sorceress." Aerith stated simply.

"A Sorceress?" Kairi was getting very interested and so was the spiky haired boy beside her and the ninja seated at the table.

"Since when has Hollow Bastion had a Sorceress!?" Yuffie exclaimed.

"There has always been one in Radiant Garden."The green eyed woman replied."Only people who lived in the castle really knew about her though. The town's people didn't really hear of their Sorceress before she got to choose a Knight."

"Ok, let me get this straight."Sora cut in."This Rinoa girl was a Sorceress and…What does Leon have to do with it? If he was only her boyfriend I mean." Weird how Sora had never imagined his friend Leon with anyone before. Then again, the man wasn't really the talkative type.

"He was the Knight." Aerith explained.

Kairi smiled gently refraining herself from making an '_aww'_ sound but Sora continued staring at Aerith as if to say '_So?'_ .Kairi had to nudge him again at that.

"Every Sorceress has to choose a knight after their eighteenth birthday. It is usually a cousin, a brother or a member of the Sorceress' family but Rinoa ended up choosing her boyfriend Squall err… I mean Leon. The Knight's duty is to protect his Sorceress and to help her control her powers and face any ordeal they would have to go through. There is also a very strong bond between a Sorceress and her Knight…"

"What do you mean?" Kairi inquired.

"The Sorceress having such a great power, there will always be some kind of special connection between her and her Knight. He would be able to feel it when she was overwhelmed by strong emotions or when she was in pain and vice versa. But…In the same way, if anything were to happen to the Sorceress…Her Knight would fall along with her." Aerith finished somberly.

"What!? So that means..!" Yuffie exclaimed standing up and knocking her chair down in the process.

"What is it Yuffie?" the brunette woman asked.

Yuffie frowned and clenched her fist against her heart. "I…I told him she was dead…"

Of course the silence that followed was even worse than the one before when Sora had asked who Rinoa was. Yuffie tried explaining herself.

"I had no idea about the Sorceress/Knight thingy! I know I shouldn't have but I just assumed that since we were the only ones who were able to escape that day…I'm so sorry."

"You should try and say that to him."Said Cid, lighting up a cigarette in the corner of the room.

"…He told me right before he walked away: _I know she's not dead_. So…That means he still feels her, and since Leon himself is alive, she can't be dead!"

"But…It's been so long! What could have happened to her? Why didn't he go get her?" Sora questioned feeling more and more eager to go find Leon and force the truth out of him with every minute that passed.

"I honestly don't know…" Aerith confessed.

"But how did you know about him being Rinoa's Knight then?" Tifa inquired.

"I just told you what I knew from books I read and what little I could have him tell me."

"Oh well…"Cid grumbled from his corner.

Everyone turned to him in question. The elder man sighed and gave them an almost annoyed look.

"What're you guys waitin' for? You should go n' ask him your godamn questions yourselves!"

"But we don't know where he is…" Yuffie said sadly.

"Pff… Kiddos these days…Is it really dat' hard to guess?" he answered mockingly.

A moment passed when everyone was deep in thoughts but Sora was the first to make it end.

"The castle!" he cried.

"Good. Now go and get him so I can make some godamn tea…"

They all exchanged looks. Since when had Cid been so persuasive?

* * *

_There she was. Rinoa stood in front of a stone pillar in the entrance hall waiting for Squall to come. They had promised to meet there today at three but it was already half past three! Did he trick her? He seemed so honest yesterday at the ball…The young Sorceress was starting to get paranoid.*Maybe he got hurt? He said that he was in the castle's academy…Oh no…What if it's serious? Wait, why am I worrying so much?* she thought._

_Just as she finished her train of thoughts she saw him come running into the hall looking around the room for her. He seemed to be sighing in relief when he finally spotted the raven haired girl and walked to her._

"_Hey!" She said with a smile on her face, happy that he finally showed up._

"_Hey. I'm sorry for being so late, practice session ended a bit late today." _

"_It's alright don't worry." She wouldn't tell him that she had actually been worrying herself to death that something had happened or that he had pulled a prank on her last night._

_She took a better look at him. The same blue eyes, the same scar across his fore head, he was the same as last night. Only this time his outfit consisted of a plain V necked white shirt, a black leather jacket with a white fur collar and leather pants of the same color. He wore an excessive amount of belts but strangely enough, it suited him quite well. There were two red ones that crossed each other around his waist and another normal one with a lion's head shaped buckle. He also had three smaller ones around his right leg that were hidden behind a black cloth that went just above his knee*Maybe it's to keep the sheath for his weapon…* she thought. She wasn't too sure … He had a singular pendant around his neck. It was a silver roaring lion above a cross. She noticed the same symbols embroidered on both his jacket's shoulders in red and black strings._

_She, on the other hand, wore a simple blue duster that had small white angel wings on the back and a degraded length. It was shorter on her left and on her right but went down to her ankles in the back in a linear way. She had two arm warmers on her forearms made of the same material. She wore a white V necked tank-top with a black arrow like design on the collar that went just above her midriff and blue fabric with small shiny pearls dangling from it tied around her waist that she wore above plain knee length black shorts. Of course she had her mother's wedding ring hanging around her neck as she always did._

_Squall didn't quite expect that kind of outfit for a Sorceress but, like she had said the day before, she was just a normal person and a seventeen year old girl._

"_What's this?" she asked, taking his pendant in her hand to have a better look at it._

_He tried to suppress the slight blush that came to his cheeks when her fingers accidently brushed his chest in the process before answering._

"_I've had that pendant for as long as I can remember. I think it's from my family."_

"_You think?"_

"_I grew up in an orphanage."_

"_Oh! I'm sorry, I…"_

"_It's alright, I never knew my parents so I can't grieve about some people I have never known." He answered seeing her saddened expression._

"_I guess you're right but…It's still sad."_

_He didn't know how to answer that so he just let silence pass between them for a moment before she found it in her again to start on another topic._

"_You like lions, right?" she said in a bit more cheerful tone still pointing at his pendant._

_He nodded. "They are a symbol of pride and strength, that's why I admire them."_

"_It kinda fits you." She replied with a smile._

"_I wish…"_

_She looked up at him a bit confused by his distant reply. Suddenly the sound of clinking armors was heard in the corridor leading to the hall announcing a group of guards' arrival._

"_Shoot!" Rinoa cursed._

"_What's wrong?" Squall inquired, puzzled._

"_There she is! Sorceress Rinoa!" one of the guards called across the room._

_Squall didn't have time to ask any more before Rinoa grabbed his hand and led him out of the hall running, the guards chasing after them. They ran at an incredible speed, passing and bumping into people in the corridors every now and then but never stopping in their mad race. The guards had trouble keeping up with a sorceress who was used to being chased around the castle as such and a trained soldier like Squall but did their best and were still chasing them when the two came in front of a dead end. Rinoa didn't stop running but tightened her grip on his hand._

"_Brace yourself!" she shouted at him before sprinting ahead of him._

_Once again he didn't have time to react, they ran straight into the wall and the next thing he knew was that he was in an unoccupied room, breathless, with Rinoa at his side.*Did we just run through the wall!?*he thought bewildered._

"_Yeah, we did." Rinoa said between heavy breaths beside him. She was leaning on her knees trying to get her heart beat back to a normal rhythm. She didn't succeed, even after efficiently catching her breath. _

"_Sorry I heard your thoughts, I don't know, sometimes I can't help it…" She admitted a bit ashamed, tracing patterns on the floor with her foot._

"_I…I guess I didn't quite get the Sorceress thing before that." He said still a bit stunned._

"_Hum…What do you mean by that?" She questioned tilting her head in confusion._

"_You're powerful." He simply answered. _

"_Do you say that because I practically yanked you halfway across the castle or because I got us running through a wall?" She chuckled in a mocking tone._

"_I'd say both."_

_They laughed together at that. Then Squall spoke again._

"_No seriously, it's really hard to master that kind of spell."_

"_Yeah but you have to admit it's pretty useful in that kind of situation!" She grinned at him and he grinned back. "Magic can be all kinds of different things… sometimes it's useful like that 'walk through' spell or teleportation…"_

"_You can teleport yourself?" The young man asked eagerly._

"_No, I'm still working on that, but let me finish please." She scolded him playfully._

"_Sorry" he replied with a smirk._

"_Anyway, what I mean is that you can use magic to bring happiness to people or…To do the opposite…I want to master every kind of magic so that I can stop evil from reaching Radiant Garden and protect my people."_

"_Just like me."_

"_Huh? Ah yes, I remember you told me you wanted to protect your family back in the orphanage."_

_He nodded, and a small silence filled the room. It was soon ended by the sound of Rinoa's footsteps as she made her way to sit down on the bed. She patted the spot next to her and he went to sit by her side._

"_So, what have you mastered so far?" he questioned her with his gaze fixed upon a painting on the wall which showed what seemed to be a water tower in a small village under a sky filled with so many stars it seemed unnatural. But then again, it was just a painting._

"_Oh, I've mastered a lot of things!"She beamed. "I've been here studying magic since I was five so it's been…Twelve years now!"_

"_You're gone on a tangent."_

"_Oupsi, sorry. Well, I'm a master of all kinds of elementary magic and support spells like cures or strength boosts. I've also mastered status ailment spells and I'm pretty good at curses and enchantments." She flashed a proud smile before finishing. "Right now I'm working on mental kinds of spells such as telekinesis and telepathy and then I'll start on attack spells like 'ultima' or 'hell's judgment'. These are the hardest."_

"_I can't even cast a firaga correctly…" Squall sighed._

_She laughed at him. "Elementary spells are easiest beside status ailments!"_

"_Whatever." _

_She laughed harder. She tried calming down a bit before looking at him again. His gaze was cast to the wall and a slight - barely noticeable – smile was plastered on his face. She smiled gently. "You know, magic isn't only used in battles."_

"_Yeah?" _

"_You can use it to do pretty things too."_

_Squall looked back at her and saw that she made a blue smoke come out of her hand. Soon shining lights appeared on the dark blue background, then a scenery… Soon he realized she had recreated the scenery from the painting with the stars shining above the water tower. It looked a bit like hologram but…Somehow more real…_

_He was quite at a loss for words when she turned her gaze back to him with her warm brown eyes._

"_I'll show you around the castle if you want. All the places nobody knows about… But only if you promise to come back and spend some time with me from time to time."_

"_It's not fair if you're the only one giving something." He said without thinking, a rare thing for him. His behavior had been so weird. He had told her about himself, let her drag him around, gone through a wall…No, that last thing had nothing to do with the rest but still, why was he being so open to her?_

"_It doesn't matter if you don't but if you really want to then…Let's consider you'll give me your friendship!" she replied smiling._

_Then again he surprised himself by answering without thinking it over for too long. _

"_You have a deal."_

"_Really? That's so great!" she exclaimed overjoyed._

_With that, she jumped into his arms, giving him the tightest bear hug he had ever experienced (not that there had been many). He felt the heat rising to his cheeks yet again *Crap. Does she always do that!?* he thought._

"_Yes I do, you'll have to get used to it." She giggled, her voice a bit muffled since her head was currently nuzzled against his chest. He cursed in his mind again and she giggled even more. Curse that 'thought reading' ability of hers._

_When she finally got out of his arms, he took the opportunity to ask her a question that had been on his mind for a while._

"_By the way, why were the guards looking for you?"_

"_Oh…That…" She started hesitantly. "Well…I wasn't supposed to be with you at three…"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I was supposed to be practicing that 'run through walls' spell for a while but since we were to meet at three I…Kinda skipped it."_

"_You were…Wait, does that mean that you didn't properly master the spell when you used it back there!?" he exclaimed._

"_Yeah…But it did work! I guess I actually got to practice it in the end." _

_Squall was flabbergasted. She smiled devilishly at him but he couldn't find it in him to be mad at her. Oh, well… His time in the castle was going to be interesting with a friend like her._

* * *

The rain calmed down a bit after a while so the small group minus Aerith and Cid (the former not wanting to be a burden to the others if they were to encounter some monsters and the latter needing to _'have some godamn tea' _as he put it) decided it was safe to go to the castle and fetch Leon. And so, equipped with their trusty weapons (and umbrellas) they walked for a good twenty minutes under a gentler rain before arriving to their destination. Just as they remembered, the building was still a shadow of what it used to be. It had a dark aura surrounding it but when the party entered the hall, it felt…Lonely…Empty and sad, as if left behind.

"This place is weird…" Yuffie shuddered.

"You've never been here before?" Kairi asked intrigued.

"No, Tifa and I never came to the castle. I used to spend most of my time messing around in town or at the orphanage." The young ninja clarified, a devilish smile plastered upon her face.

"I did pretty much the same with Cloud… except for the 'messing around' part." Tifa chuckled. "The only time I was here was when I was looking for Cloud."

Sora sniggered. "Where do we start then?"

"I guess we'll just have to take a look around…" the martial artist put forward.

The others nodded their agreement and they started exploring the castle together. Yuffie tripped on the carpet several times, Tifa looked everywhere around in weird places (years of practice looking for Cloud), Kairi flinched a bit when she noticed the ballroom's floor stained with dry blood and covered with broken glass shards, Sora kept pointing his keyblade at every wall in search of a secret passage or a hidden door. They had been searching the place for well over two hours and there still was no trace of Leon.

"We've looked everywhere and he's nowhere to be found!" Yuffie exclaimed in disappointment.

"Maybe he came back home while we were looking…" Tifa sighed.

Sora just kept 'keyblade proofing" every wall. They where currently facing a dead end in a corridor bordering the back wall of the castle. You could see the garden from the broken windows. Sora groaned in defeat and leaned on a nearby wall with his palm against the cold stone surface. What he didn't expect though was that a star would appear on the very spot he had touched and that the wall would vanish right afterwards. He went flying straight into the stairway and ended up stretched upside down in a star like fashion at the bottom of the stone stairs. When he looked up to the ceiling above him he was surprised – and quite shocked – to see a gunblade pointed at his throat.

"Wow!" he screamed.

"…Sora?"

The spiky haired boy watched as the tall man put his weapon back into its sheath and helped him up to his feet.

"What are you doing here?" He asked a bit coldly.

"Sora, are you alright!?" Kairi cried from upstairs.

The girls had soon joined the boys down into the dimly lit room and were nothing less than stunned to find their friend with the very man they had been looking for.

"Leon! What are you doing in a place like this!?" Sora asked loudly.

"I'm so sorry Leon! I shouldn't have said all these things!"

"What's this place?"

Leon closed his eyes trying to untangle his thoughts. What was he going to tell them? _'Yeah…Just felt like having a little stroll to the castle…'_ That would most definitely not work… Why did they even come here anyway? To find him? This led him nowhere…

"What are you guys here for?" he inquired in a low voice.

"We went to look for you of course!" Sora burst out. Kairi gave him a look signaling him to calm down a bit.

"I wanted to apologize for what I said back there…" Yuffie said, her voice shy and barely above a whisper. The exact opposite of her usual self. She continued hesitantly. "I'm really sorry for what I told you…About Rinoa…" He froze stiff when she spoke her name and it didn't go unnoticed by the others. "Now I know that what I said isn't true."

"How did you..?" He started completely thunderstruck. Nor Sora nor Kairi had ever seen their friend in such a state.

"Aerith told us about Knights and Sorceresses." Tifa enlightened.

He was once again deep in thoughts for a moment. The least that could be said was that he was a bit confused. He fixed his eyes on the ground his hand placed on his forehead once more. The room stayed silent for a while as the only sound heard was that of small drops of water dripping from the ceiling and into a small pool on the bare stone floor.

"So…Hum…Where's Rinoa?"

"Sora!" the girls yelled at him.

"What!? We also came here for answers right?" the boy defended himself, throwing his hands up as to plead his innocence.

The gunblade wielder was bewildered. These guys who called themselves his 'friends' just came to the castle, barged in a secret room he thought no one knew about and all that to question him about his private life? _*What the heck…*_he thought.

"Why…Why would you want to know about her..?" His voice trailed off in the end, getting quieter and quieter as his façade started to fall down to pieces. No. He wouldn't break. He wasn't one to break.

"Quit questioning Leon!" Sora shouted. Kairi nudged him. Hard.

"We just want to help you." Tifa clarified in a calmer voice, looking him straight in the eyes with her ruby ones in an almost pleading way. Leon averted his gaze.

"You seemed really down these days…" Yuffie added trying to convince him to look at her. "If it has to do with her, then we want to know."

"It's…I just…" He could not answer that. He was like a deer caught in the headlights. He never talked about his past with anyone. No one but _**her**_…But she couldn't hear him now anymore. He just had to tell them part of the truth. "Radiant Garden's fall anniversary was a few days ago but…"

"It's not only that though, is it?" Kairi didn't ask him. She said that as a fact, a truth that he didn't want to tell them. "I can feel it."

He remembered that. Rinoa would tell him that every time something was wrong and he wouldn't tell her what… '_I feel it'…_

"What do you mean you can feel it!?" he hollered defensively even when he didn't actually want to scream at the small girl. She didn't flinch.

"Kairi can sense these things." Sora explained.

He had his back turned to them but Kairi very well knew that she had said the right thing to make the walls surrounding him crumble. The others just waited in silence and pure awe at how the red haired girl had managed to put his mask down.

Leon had lost this battle and he knew it, he was going to have to answer their questions. _*Strange how this girl can be just like you sometimes, huh…*_ he thought.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, his back still facing them.

"What happened to Rinoa?" Yuffie questioned without hesitating.

He gritted his teeth looking to the center of the room towards a certain stone pillar with a statue of a woman on it. It was as if she was imprisoned in the rectangular pillar, with only part of her legs and arms sticking out and her shoulders glued to the wall like she desperately wanted to escape. Her head and eyes were facing him. It still hurt so much even after all these years…

"She was the Sorceress so naturally she was there when Maleficent attacked the castle." He paused a second to summon up the courage to tell them. "I was there too…"

"What!? You never told us that!" Sora interrupted.

"I was her Knight but also a soldier, as such, I was sent to fight in the castle's halls while she…Rinoa confronted Maleficent on her own."

The others were flabbergasted. They kept listening intently, hanging to his every word.

"I know… I certainly shouldn't have let her do that but… I trusted her when she told me it was going to be alright. I had to believe her…"

"Then she called me… She only used telepathy when it was a great emergency cause' it always drained a lot of energy out of her. I knew something was terribly wrong then. I fought my way back to this room knowing that she would be here. I ran as fast as I could but it was already too late…"

Everyone in the room was holding their breath. Leon made his way to the statue and placed a hand on the stone woman's cheek.

"You wanted to see Rinoa…Didn't you?" he said quietly, caressing the stone as tenderly as possible considering it was such a rough surface.

"Yes! Where is she!?" Sora shouted. He couldn't stand that tense atmosphere anymore.

"Leon, don't tell me…" Tifa started not being able to go on with what she thought.

"What? What is it Tifa!?" Yuffie cried out in frustration.

"Oh God." Kairi brought her hands to her mouth in shock.

As she and Tifa had expected, Leon lowered his head as for them not to see his eyes before pivoting slightly.

"She's right here in front of you."

Gasps where heard and Sora's feeble _"No"_ resounded across the room. Leon's eyes didn't leave the ground as he did his best to preserve his composed face. Suddenly he felt something press onto his back and tears soaking his shirt. It was Yuffie hugging him from behind and crying in his back.

"I'm so sorry Leon! I'm sorry!" She sobbed.

Kairi had walked closer and put her hand on Rinoa's stone cheek like Leon had done previously.

"She's still warm." She declared a bit surprised.

Yuffie looked up to see both Sora and Tifa walking closer to them. Then she looked at Leon. His face was showing a rare weakness, with a frown he couldn't help anymore and such a sad glow in his stormy blue eyes. It was as if he was completely broken all over again, ready to shatter into a million pieces like the glass ceiling of the ballroom. In the same way he had been all those years ago…

"I'm sorry Leon." She said, hoping that it would ease his pain in the slightest.

"It's…Alright." Apparently it didn't work at all since he directed his gaze back to his beloved. How he wished she would smile and laugh along with him again, maybe even cry but even then he would be able to comfort her and let her cry in his arms. He stared at her unchanging features and noticed the resigned and sad look she still had…It was the same one she had given him when she had turned to stone right in front of him. He remembered it vividly, like a bad dream. Only this was real. Rinoa trying to reach out to him as he entered the room running and the wall starting to swallow her…The last thing she had said…_'Goodbye'_… She had called him and he couldn't do anything but watch her turn to stone. He had tried to push these memories back…He never could.

"No it's not!"

Leon turned to face Sora who had spoken in a somehow bossy tone as Yuffie detached herself from his back, leaving it slightly soaked.

"Nothing's alright, we gotta help her!" he carried on.

Leon cast him a dark look. "You think I didn't try? I looked for a way to get her back for more than a year. I never found anything…"

"It's because you couldn't go out of Traverse Town at the time! I know people from different worlds, they could help her!"

"How would you know!?" He sighed in anger and frustration. "I asked Merlin, I looked up every book on curses there was in the castle's library and for that matter, everywhere I could find books! Nothing ever came up."

"I know the great mage Yen Sid. If he doesn't know a way, we'll go ask King Mickey! And if even he can't find a solution, we'll settle things with Maleficent herself." Sora argued, determined.

"Why would they help her?"

"Because they're our friends, and Rinoa's your Sorceress. They got to help us! Besides, if they don't I'll kick them where it hurts."

Leon didn't find it in him to smile at that even though the others were amused. But Sora's words did give him some hope… It was true he had looked everywhere in this world but he never had been able to go seek an answer to his problem in other worlds like Sora did back then because of the Heartless lurking everywhere. But what if he was getting his hopes up for nothing…That no one knew of a cure for Rinoa…

"Come on, you've got to give it a try." Yuffie encouraged.

He looked at the others. Sora was still stuck in a determined demeanor, Kairi and Tifa had the same heartened look on their faces. He then turned back to Rinoa and stroked her once silky soft hair.

"I guess I will." He said quietly before cheers exploded from everywhere around the room.

* * *

**A.N/ Thank you to everyone who read this chapter, this is the very first story I published on and I hope you liked it!**

**If you did, please leave a review, I'd be overjoyed!^^**

**And even if you didn't like this chapter all that much, you can still leave a review to tell me where I could improve.**

**To those of you who read this but dind't leave any reviews, thank you anyway! I hope you'll enjoy the story and its next chapters!**

**I update faster if I get reviews though...Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

A.N/: here's the third chapter! Thanks a lot to Raine who reviewed this story, I really appreciate it (you have no idea how much) ! I hope everyone who read until now will enjoy this chapter as well.^^

_**Transient Eternity.**_

**Chapter 3**

"_So…You're supposed to learn all those things by heart?"_

"_These are runes Squall. I have to learn how to trace them as to be able to use them." Rinoa explained a bit fed up, but quite amused, at his childish behavior. It was so uncharacteristic of him to be so curious about these things. He usually always kept this dark, stoic persona…Around her he was a bit more open._

"_What do you do with 'em?" he questioned taking a seat at the table where she was currently studying an old and dusty looking book full of complicated symbols._

"_Well…Runes enable you to cast long lasting spells, like powerful curses and enchantments or… Sometimes you can use them in advance as to cast a complicated or destructive spell and trap your opponent in the place you put them. That's not very common because it's hard to predict that your rival will be at the exact right place so most people use them to maintain a lasting spell without it draining too much energy out of them."_

"_What would you use them for?"_

"_I don't know…Maybe I could get some secret passages to open with them…"_

"_Well good luck. Judging by how many there are in just one book, I'd say you're in for the whole month." He pointed out a bit mockingly._

_She groaned in annoyance. "Thank you very much Mr. 'I can't cast a firaga properly'."_

"_Ouch. You said you wouldn't bring that up…" he defended feigning hurt._

_She chuckled in a devilish way. "Only if you let me study these dumb runes so we can get out of here." _

_She pointed her index finger straight at his face as if scolding him so that he had to look at her. She was scowling instead of looking up at him with her usual warm smile but he knew she wasn't really angry when he saw the grin she tried hard to refrain from forming on her lips. Then she glued her eyes back to her book trying to imprint these dumb symbols into her brain and he was left watching her from his seat next to her with a smirk on his face._

_It had been nearly three months since their meeting at the ballroom. They kept arranging their schedule (more like skipping in Rinoa's case) so that they could see each other almost every day. They would always have to hide in some secret passage in the castle when the guards were looking for the Sorceress and then come out after an hour or so so that the research squad would have given up and the coast would be clear._

_Today happened to be the day when they got caught. They had bumped straight into some guards patrolling while running away from another squad. They had locked Rinoa into a random study room before strolling away leaving Squall at the door 'for the Sorceress to concentrate properly'…When will they realize that unlocking a door magically fell straight into the said Sorceress' capacities? _

_There they were now. She had insisted on him staying here with her to help. * Seriously, what could I possibly do to help her study runes?* he thought. He leaned closer to the big book she was currently busy reading and tried to squint to read as well._

"…_It's so soft." Rinoa suddenly said causing him to turn to her with a questioning look._

"_The fur on your collar. It's soft!" she was beaming. Sometimes he didn't understand why things so simple and random like that would make her this happy. Maybe runes were just __**that**__ boring… _

"_Rinoa, what exactly do you think you're doing?" he asked in a low incredulous voice as she started petting the fur on his jacket's collar._

_She looked up at him with the cutest pout she could muster. She was inching closer to him and still had her fingers caressing the fur. Her big dark chocolate eyes sparkled as she locked gazes with him giving the young soldier a pleading look, a slight blush on her face and her rosy lips slightly parted. If she got just a little closer he could…_

_He blushed madly. Not only because of their current position but also because of what he had just thought. *What's wrong with me!?* He scolded himself *What if she heard that!?*_

"_Heard what?"_

_Squall jumped at her question and she tilted her head to the side cutely. _

"_Oh my gosh! You're turning red!" she exclaimed._

_He just looked away, his face tomato red. Rinoa started laughing heartily. She just loved to mess around with him. Embarrassing him like that was a rare thing though. She never remembered seeing him so red in the time they had spent together, even when she had tackled him to the ground the other day._

"_Hey, I'm sorry…" she said apologetically but her still amused voice betrayed her._

"_Yeah, whatever…" He still wouldn't look at her so she pouted again but when she realized he couldn't see her do so, she decided to act._

_Squall felt something drop onto his left shoulder. When he turned around to see what it was he was surprised to see Rinoa resting her head on his shoulder and literally leaning on him as she played with the fur on his collar once again, her eyes closed. He couldn't help thinking she looked like an angel in such a position and immediately cursed under his breath in fear that she had heard his thoughts yet again. She chuckled quietly but he didn't know whether she was amused with what he had just thought or because he had cursed. On the other hand, what he did very well know was that she was undeniably nuzzling closer to him._

_Rinoa wondered if it was alright to do so. She wasn't really one to ask for permission when she wanted to do something but what if Squall didn't enjoy the close proximity as much as she did?...It felt so right to her… This was certainly better than studying old runes in a dusty illegible scrawl… The warmth radiating from his body made her mind so much at peace. All she wanted right now was to take a nap there, close to him…Maybe even in his arms…She felt so secure… _

_Suddenly she felt him shuffle and opened her eyes just a crack to notice him snaking an arm around her and making her rest on his chest. Had he heard her thoughts!? She opened her eyes a bit more and looked up at him with a tired gaze. He looked back for only a second but it was enough for her to understand. Maybe he couldn't hear her thoughts but…He could __**feel**__ them. She put her arm on his chest returning the embrace and she swore she could feel him blushing at that moment._

"_You're so cute…" She breathed out tiredly. Oupsi, she didn't intend on letting that slip out of her mouth. Maybe he cast a confusion spell on her or something…No, he couldn't even cast a firaga… Why did she feel her head spin like that then..?_

_He just gave a soft sigh in response. He never thought that out of the two of them, he would be the one called 'cute'. He just rested his chin on her head as he heard her breathing rhythm calm and slow. _

_Silence filled the room. It was not one of these uncomfortable silences when you dropped a bomb question or felt embarrassed. He felt perfectly at ease and serene with Rinoa falling asleep in his arms, her warm breath on his chest and her heart beating against him were soothing. Never had he felt that way…It was so peaceful…_

* * *

"Leon! Wake up, we're almost there!"

The tall man awoke slowly from his dreams of the past. These happy memories almost haunted him, filling him with melancholy. It was as if she had really been here, sleeping with him in his arms all over again…

Sora was looking at him with wide eyes as if he had grown a second head.

"What is it Sora?" He asked trying to get rid of his sleepy mood.

"I just told you we were almost at the Disney castle." He said with his trademark grin.

Determination got back into Leon's eyes as he stood up to watch Tifa maneuver her Gummi ship towards a world with a great castle seemingly full of light, nothing like Hollow Bastion's. It had great blue roofs and clean white walls. And just when he thought that the castle in which Rinoa and him had lived was big…

The small group now consisted of Sora, Kairi, Tifa and Leon. Sora just _had_ to tag along in Leon's quest to help his dear Rinoa. Kairi wouldn't leave Sora's side and though she wouldn't admit it to herself, she wanted to get some details about Leon and Rinoa's relationship…Girls and love stories… Tifa was the owner of the Gummi ship. She had had to acquire one when she decided to travel through worlds looking for Cloud. Besides, she really had to help anyone who needed to be. She could relate to Leon…Being apart from the one you love and not being able to do anything about it really hurt...She had learned that the hard way.

They had already been to Yen Sid's place. The great mage was sorry to announce that he knew nothing that could help them besides the fact that the King would certainly find an answer to their problem. They could only hope he was right.

"We're going to see Donald and Goofy again!" Sora exclaimed joyfully. He almost seemed to have forgotten why they were here in the first place.

"Hang on guys, we're going to land." Tifa declared from the front of the ship.

_*Here's our last chance.*_ Leon thought tensing as he watched the Disney castle come closer into view.

* * *

The party stepped into the castle and past the guards walking a fast and determined pace. Leon had his gaze fixed straight ahead of him once more, following closely behind him were Tifa and Kairi who chatted about the size and decoration of the castle. In front of him, Sora tried to keep cool but failed miserably at hiding his excitement to see his old friends again.

After a long walk to the top of the palace, they finally arrived at the throne room and saw very familiar faces at each side of the golden and velvet throne.

"Daishy! I toldsh you I don'tsh know where she necklashe is!" Donald duck complained as his girlfriend kept assaulting him.

"But, I'm sure you do! You always know where I put my things!" She pleaded almost desperately.

"Ohyo! Calm down Lady Daisy!" Goofy attempted to shove her away from his feathery friend.

"Oh dear…" Queen Minnie sighed from her spot beside the King.

"My friends, I think we have company." King Mickey announced while proceeding to stand up from his throne and walk closer to the small group at the other end of the room.

Daisy stopped her tantrum trying to shake some answers out of Donald (literally) so that they could all have a better look at their visitors.

"Sora!" They all exclaimed at the same time.

Donald and Goofy ran to the spiky haired boy and tackled him to the ground making the others –minus Leon who was staring out one of the great windows of the throne room – snigger slightly.

"Leon, Kairi, Tifa! You're there too, ohyo!" Goofy called out when they finally managed to stand up.

"It'sh been sho long!" Donald said in the same happy tone.

"Ohyo, so what's new guys?"

"Oh well…" Sora started.

"Did you and Kairi finally get together?" Daisy inquired as she made her way to the rest of her friends. She had always been curious about those things.

The two teens blushed madly at that.

"Wait..! No! I mean…Raaaaah!" Sora cried in frustration as he tried to explain what seemed to be a lost cause. "After we got back to Destiny Islands we…"

"Your Majesty, we have a favor to ask you." Leon interrupted in a serious voice, completely changing the atmosphere in the room.

Everyone stared at him, Daisy with a bit of annoyance. Not that he wasn't happy to see them all again but…He came here for a very special reason…

"Oh come on, can't this wait a little, we have soooo much to talk about…Right Sora, Kairi?" Daisy declared in a voice that meant it was to no avail to try and get out of this.

"Our time is running short." The tall man replied in a harsh tone, his patience low.

"What?...What do you mean Leon?" Tifa asked worried.

"She…" He hadn't found the strength to tell them earlier. He pressed on, it was now or never, he had to tell them. "She's getting weaker…"

"What!?" Sora and Kairi shouted at the same time. Tifa gasped.

"I wouldn't have gone to the castle yesterday if I hadn't felt something was wrong. I just had to check that she was still alive but…I feel it even more now, she's getting weaker and weaker with every hour that goes by." He finished explaining, clenching his teeth.

"But…She still held on until now didn't she..?" Tifa tried to reassure him.

"It's been more than five years…It's surprising she held on that long, even with her powers…" He trailed off in the end as his eyes got back to the floor.

"What aresh you talking aboutsh?!" Donald cried out, annoyed that no one explained what was going on.

"Calm down ohyo!" Goofy prayed him as he tried to prevent his friend from doing anything stupid.

"You're talking about Sorceress Rinoa…Aren't you Leon?" the King asked. Silence now filled the room. Leon was bewildered.

"I heard of what happened to her…" Mickey explained.

"How do you..?"

"Maleficent herself told me once when she was in a position of weakness."

"What else did she tell you? How do you break the curse!?" Leon questioned vehemently, walking closer to the King.

"She didn't say anything about that… I'm afraid…" the King said in an apologetic voice.

"No…" Leon dropped to his knees. His last hope of saving her was crushed. He could do nothing, just let her die… It was his fault, he shouldn't have let her go…He just watched as she turned to stone, forever remaining silent…Never to smile again… He could do nothing.

"Leon…" The King walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder as they were now at the same level.

"I couldn't protect her, it's all my fault…" he whispered darkly, his head was down and everyone in the room just stood there silent, watching the tragedy unfold before them.

"Don't say that Leon…" Sora said quietly from behind him.

"Leon, look at me." The King demanded.

When the man looked up, Mickey could see everything he had endured during the past years in his sad blue eyes. The worry, the sleepless nights, the tears that were shed for no one to see, the guilt, the pain…

"There might still be a way."

Leon's eyes widened. He prayed for him to continue even though he couldn't voice his thoughts.

"Rinoa may have been cursed using runes, or a catalyst."

Leon froze stiff. He recalled her gentle voice that day in the study room as she explained to him: _'Runes enable you to cast long lasting spells, like powerful curses and enchantments…' _It was all very clear to him now_. '…most people use them to maintain a lasting spell without it draining too much energy out of them'._

"…Runesh?" Donald asked loudly, completely and utterly confused. "What doesh it have to do wish..?"

Leon didn't let him finish. "So, you're saying that we have to find where the rune was placed and destroy it to release Rinoa?" He deduced, getting his determined tone back.

The King nodded. "Yes, but it might be a bit more complicated than that…"

"I know the rune can't be too far from where Rinoa is from what she told me about them, so we'll just have to look around the castle." He said, getting back up. A fire was burning inside him, he now had a precise goal.

"Know that Maleficent wouldn't have placed it at the bottom of any tree, she must have put the rune in a place which would be difficult to reach. My best guess is that you will feel a certain aura when you near it." King Mickey advised.

"Got it!" Sora took part in the conversation. "Anything else you might know your Highness?"

"In order to break the rune, you'll need this." Queen Minnie approached them with a small chest in her hands. Leon took it and opened it.

"What is it?" he asked when he took a better look at what was inside the chest. A silver pendant with a diamond rose in the center.

"This is a relic. It is vested with powerful magic. It's the only way to break a rune when you're not a Sorceress." The Queen clarified.

"How do you use that?" Sora asked as he moved beside Leon to examine the relic. Rinoa had never told him anything about relics…Of course, she didn't need them since she was already a Sorceress.

"I'm not sure…I guess you will know when it's time." Minnie replied. Sora wanted to facepalm at that.

"One more thing." King Mickey asked for attention from the others. "After the rune is broken, you'll be required to do something else Leon."

"Anything." He replied, his mind set. Minnie and Daisy smiled at his devotion to saving the woman he loved while the others kept listening intently.

"The last time Maleficent cursed someone, Princess Aurora ended up sleeping for a hundred years before her prince went to save her. Do you know what he did as to put an end to her eternal slumber?" the King asked…A bit mischievously…

"No, I don't." Leon said somewhat disconcerted by the King's constant beating around the bush.

Mickey chuckled. "…Sora will explain it to you later then. I do believe you don't have much time left."

Leon and the others were shocked but the gunblade wielder still nodded and made his way to the exit door.

"Thank you, your Highness." He concluded. Maybe they hadn't realized it, but the King gave him a reason to continue, a last string of hope to hold onto. Now he just had to take the chance he was given and save Rinoa.

"Ohyo, you're already going?" Goofy asked a bit disappointed.

"Would shomeone exshplain pleash!" Donald cried furious.

"Donald dear, calm down…" Daisy attempted.

Minnie just smiled at the irony of the situation. "May luck be on your side." She bade them goodbye.

"Your Majesty, please…" Tifa took a step ahead and in front of the King.

"Yes?"

"Would you happen to have seen a man with spiky blond hair?"

The others refrained from sighing. She just never gave up. They understood though, it must have been hard for her too… never finding Cloud -since the man always kept chasing after Sephiroth- after all this time looking for him…

"I'm afraid not miss, I'm sorry." The King responded apologetically.

"Oh…I see, it doesn't matter." She flashed him a gentle smile to prove her point. She was used to it.

Sora turned to Goofy and Donald. "I'll come back to see you guys in a while." He grinned at Leon who was still standing near the door. "I promise you'll meet Rinoa too."

* * *

**A.N/:** Thank you for reading! I'm sorry about Donald's English, I tried my best to make his 'duck accent' show through.^^"

As always, I'd loooove it if you left a review! Even if it is to tell me this sucks, I don't mind! Just tell me what I could improve or, if you liked it, what you enjoyed the most!


	4. Chapter 4

_**Transient Eternity**_

**-Chapter 4-**

"_Hey Squall, wait up man!"_

_The young soldier turned to the blond teen running to him a bit surprised but not showing it in the slightest. It was Zell. He was in some of his classes in the castle' academy and was known for his excellence in martial arts. What made him most recognizable was the big tattoo he had on the side of his face._

_Squall didn't stop walking as his comrade finally caught up to him. Rinoa was waiting for him again today and he was pretty sure she wouldn't be too pleased if he showed up late like last time. Especially since she had told him she had something important to say…_

"_Congrats for you exam, what you did with the gunblade… I never saw anyone use that weapon so well."_

"_Thanks. You did pretty well too. Is it all you wanted to tell me?" he said still in a hurry._

"_Well, no…"_

_Squall stopped walking and turned to face the embarrassed blond readying himself for any stupid favor he was going to try and ask him._

"…_You know you hang out around the Sorceress a lot." Zell declared attempting to withstand his comrade's icy cold glare. "She's going to choose someone to become her Knight soon."_

_He had been expecting something of the like. Just yesterday his instructor had bothered him with that. They were all going paranoid over the fact that he spent most of his time with Rinoa, as if she was unattainable because she was the Sorceress. She was right back there at the ball in May, people thought of her as an alien. She was everyone's favorite subject of conversation these days since…Her eighteenth birthday was coming up._

_Squall was a bit worried that he wouldn't be able to see her so much anymore after she chose her Knight. He had gotten used to spending all his afternoons with her during the past nine months… was it only nine months? It felt as if he had known her all his life. He knew her by heart just as she did him. He could interpret the slightest gesture of hers and tell if she was upset, worried or if she was about to mess with him. The only thing he couldn't predict was when she would jump into his arms and tackle him to the ground…That happened quite a lot…_

_People in the castle didn't pay too much attention to them at the start but now that her birthday was drawing nearer, they kept whispering about the two whenever they saw them passing by in the castle's halls. Squall and Rinoa were used to it by now._

_And now that she could possibly be taken away from him when she got to choose her Knight…He was terrified. He had grown addicted to her, if she were not to smile at him anymore…He wouldn't be able to stand it._

"_Squall…?" Zell was a bit puzzled by the gunblader's silence._

"_Instructor Trepe asked you to 'go knock some sense into my head' didn't she?" he sighed in annoyance._

_Zell's eyes widened for a second. "Well…"_

"_She did."He concluded by the expression on the martial artist's face. "Tell her to mind her own business then, I have to go meet the 'great sorceress Rinoa'." And with that, he departed leaving a stunned Zell behind him. It wasn't against him really. Zell was one of the only ones not treating him like a piece of trash because he was an orphan in the academy. But Squall was in a hurry and had no time to discuss futile matters such as him being "the Sorceress' best friend"._

_*Her best friend…* Squall shook these thoughts away and went to the top of a tower where Rinoa would be waiting for him in her room. He was at her door and about to come in, when he heard screams from inside the room. He didn't want to eavesdrop but considering how loudly they were arguing, he really couldn't help hearing most of the conversation._

"_Lady Rinoa, stop saying such stupid things, you know exactly what you have to do!" A low masculine voice infused with barely controlled anger said._

"'_Lady Rinoa'!? Really?" she shouted in response._

"_You know you must make the right choice for this country!" _

"_Yes I do, and that's exactly why I won't choose YOU to become my Knight!" she hollered vehemently._

"_You don't seem to understand how wrong you are!" the man raged on._

"_Shut up, just shut up, I've had enough of your rambling!" she yelled out._

"_Who are you going to take then? You have no one! I'm the only one you have left!" the man roared._

"_SHUT UP! You don't know anything!"_

_Squall shifted, a bit uncomfortable. He had never heard Rinoa so enraged before. She had been mad at him sometimes but never that bad. The hatred in her voice was so unnatural to her… With every minute that passed the young soldier became more and more aware of the strange feeling tugging at his heart. When that happened, it usually meant Rinoa was overwhelmed or in trouble. He decided it best to ignore it for now and keep listening to the conversation._

"_You know perfectly well that I'm right. You have no one here; you don't have a choice. You have to choose me."_

"_I have someone!" She spoke trying to maintain her angry tone but Squall felt her wavering._

"_Oh really..? You know they always betray you and leave you behind after a while. You always end up alone crawling back to me." The man stated menacingly._

"_No, he's not like that!" Her voice cracked. "I trust him, I know he could be…"_

"_Oh, so you have a friend? How lovely…Does he just stay with you to have a better chance of becoming your Knight?" He cut her in a sarcastic voice._

"_No! I just enjoy spending time with him…and he does too."_

"_How could you even know that? You're walking a dangerous path Lady Rinoa."_

"_I know Squall, he wouldn't let me go."_

_Squall gasped. She was talking about him?_

"_Bullshit!" The man was furious "You'll always be alone, that's what a Sorceress' destiny is! Realize it!"_

"_No, it's not true!" Rinoa defended herself, her voice on the verge of tears._

"_You silly girl! That Squall is only using you to get to the top!" _

_Squall gritted his teeth, how could he say that? From what he had heard so far, that man was the one using Rinoa. Silence filled the room for a while before the man spoke in a lower yet still angry voice._

"_I'll leave you to think about this but remember my words. You know you can't trust people like him."_

_Hearing that, Squall quickly got away from the door and hid in a dark corridor. The door creaked and a tall strict looking man with perfectly combed black hair walked out hurriedly. After he was gone, Squall acknowledged the strange feeling once more and realized it had gotten stronger. The next thing he knew he heard quiet sobs coming from Rinoa's room._

_He ran to the door and came in the large circular room to see her seated on her bed crying hard. Without a word he walked closer to her and sat next to the poor girl. She instantly jumped to hug him and tears started soaking his shirt as she tried to get as close to him as possible. The young man wrapped his arms around her shyly, trying to comfort her somehow. He brought her closer as well and tried stroking her hair and whispering in her ear to soothe her a bit._

"_Squall…Don't leave me" she pleaded as she looked up at him with tears still streaming down her cheeks. _

"_Never." He replied seriously, gently wiping a tear away with his eyes on her the whole time._

_She rested her head into his chest once more but this time she wasn't crying. It was just to calm herself down a bit. Maybe she was a Sorceress, but Squall was always able to magically ease her pain. They stayed in that position for a moment, neither of them saying a word. Just enjoying the peaceful silence._

"_You heard everything, didn't you..?" Rinoa murmured after a while._

_She felt him nod as his chin was resting on top of her head._

"_That man…"She said quietly. "…He was my father…"_

_Squall definitely didn't expect that. She knew it when she felt her favorite pillow –him- stiffen._

"_I hate him, he changed so much after my mother's death…" She touched the silver ring on her necklace. "He's been trying to use me to get to the top of the hierarchy ever since. I think it became his new goal in life." She finished darkly._

"_He called you 'Lady Rinoa'…" he said more to himself than to her but she still heard him anyway._

"_He doesn't consider me as his daughter anymore, just like I don't consider him as my father." She explained._

"_It must be hard."_

"_Yeah…But… I have you…"_

_Squall's eyes widened a bit at that. He couldn't find any proper way to answer that so he only hugged her tighter, her warmth enveloping him. Rinoa thanked God he couldn't see her face right then. She was blushing madly and her heart was racing at an insane speed. It happened a lot lately…Ever since Squall had started getting closer to her… _

_He was in his own world of thoughts again. Slowly, he had come to realize the change in their relationship during the past months. __A bond had formed between them__ and it had gotten stronger with __every day that passed, every hour he spent by her side…._

…_There was a strong link but not only that… He had…Feelings for her._

_He didn't know how or when that happened, it just did. Every time she flashed him a warm smile, when she snuggled closer to him, even this glint in her eyes… It was when he started noticing all these things about her and the fact that he wanted to return her hugs or other gestures more and more that he realized it._

_He felt her slowly come out of his embrace. She gave him a small genuine smile._

"_You remember our deal?"_

_He looked at her quizzically, much like he had done the night they had met in the ballroom. She chuckled lightly._

"_I showed you pretty much every secret passage I know in the castle so now…I want to show you something outside…"_

_She stood up and extended her hand to him. He gave her his usual little smile and took her hand. She led him down the tower and into the castle where people kept staring at them as they were still walking hand in hand, the two teens couldn't care less._

_They finally got outside and into the garden. It was one of these rare late afternoons of March where a shy sun would light the earth with a soft shine in a clear grayish blue sky with just some clouds passing by from time to time. Rinoa liked the idea of comparing the sky's color to Squall's icy blue orbs. She kept walking but when that thought occurred to her she just had to turn around and have a better look at his eyes. _

"_What?" he asked intrigued by her strange behavior. She just kept staring_

"_Nothing!" she giggled after a short while. It was like she had thought, Squall's eyes were exactly the same color as the sky today._

_The young soldier didn't question her any more. They made their way towards the maze's green hedges at the very back of the garden. It was rumored to be so big people got lost in it for weeks so that you had to actually prepare a great excursion when you planned on exploring the maze._

"_Don't tell me we're heading through that way." Squall was taken aback. Maybe he should have brought his gunblade and some equipment…_

"_Of course we are! Don't worry though, I know a way not to get stuck in here for ages." Rinoa reassured him._

_They walked the short distance that separated them from the maze's entrance and there Rinoa stopped and let go of his hand for a second. She stepped in front of Squall as she tried to remember the exact words she had to pronounce. _

"_So what was it again…Ah!" She extended her arms towards the maze. "Fithos. Lusec. Wecos. Vinosec."_

_Squall observed silently as something similar to a big ball of light formed in her extended arms before exploding in the air into a thousand smaller shards. The shards dived back to the ground and formed a blue trail that went all the way through the maze's corridor._

"_There! Now we just follow the trail and we'll be there in about an hour!" Rinoa exclaimed with a cheery grin on her face._

"_That spell is pretty useful." The young man stated in awe._

"_Oh well, not really…It only works with the maze. The Sorceress is the only one to know it, but I guess you do too now." She smiled sweetly at him after finishing her explanation._

"_I'll have to remember the words…"_

"_Yeah, you don't need to be a Sorceress to cast it but it really isn't something you use every day."_

"_We have an exam at the end of the year where we have to go in there. The first bunch of students that manages to get out receives a promotion."_

_She laughed at that. "That's cheating Squall."_

"_Whatever. Shall we go then?" He inquired while taking her hand in his once again._

_She nodded and they started following the trail. They walked for a long time; Rinoa would complain about her feet hurting every now and then ('I should learn a spell to fix that!') but they spent most of the stroll chatting about anything that came to their minds. Just as Rinoa had predicted earlier, they came out of the maze after about an hour._

"_We have to walk down the hill, close your eyes!"She ordered him playfully._

_He did as he was told and Rinoa led him downhill. He wasn't only amused by her childish behavior but also by the way she managed to drag him with her in these juvenile adventures._

"_Okay Squall, now open your eyes."_

_He obeyed once again and found a view that could only come out of a fairy tale in front of him. A field full of blooming wild flowers surrounded them. Bright colors enlightened by the setting sun. It was as if the sky had been a mirror reflecting all the different tints of the flowers…Blue, violet, red and orange, pink and yellow… Even the clouds had taken the colors of the sun bathing them and glowed a warm orange._

_Then he looked back at the prettiest flower here, Rinoa stood beside him, also admiring the sun. Her face was lit with such an honest smile… Some of her raven tresses were blown by the gentle wind and danced along with some flower petals that flew around them. She radiated in the warm orange light of the sun. The only word he could find to describe her was…_

"…_Beautiful."_

"_I knew you'd like this place. I don't come here really often, I wish I could." Rinoa said, still watching the sky._

_She squeezed his hand a bit tighter before turning to face him. Then she lowered her head and a frown appeared upon her face. Squall started worrying._

"_Rinoa…?"_

"_I…You know that I'll have to choose my Knight soon, right?" She started hesitantly, still not looking at him._

"_Yeah." Squall feared this topic as much as she did. He had to speak what was on his mind, his silent promise. "But even when you do… I'll be here. If you need me then I'll be by your side." He paused, lowering his head as well. "If you want me to…"_

"_That would be great but…" Rinoa couldn't muster the courage to tell him, why was it so hard? She tried to stay calm as she said. "I wanted to come here to ask you something."_

_The gunblade wielder turned back to her slightly surprised._

"_I…I don't have any family left. Not a cousin or anyone beside my father. And I don't want him to inherit the title of Knight because that would do no good to Radiant Garden. He'd just crave for more power. Squall…You're the only one I have…"_

_He froze. Was that it? His heart started breaking at her words. It was very clear to him now… "You want me to be your Knight 'by default'."_

_Rinoa stiffened. "No! Not at all..!"_

"_You said it yourself, you don't want your father to be it but you don't have anyone else besides me. I'm the only alternative, your last option available, am I correct?" He said sternly. He was like his old cold self once more. He tried to hide the hurt in his voice but it was to no avail, the young Sorceress could feel those things._

"_No you're not." Rinoa replied._

"_Then explain to me!" He did his best to sound angry but his eyes betrayed him. He wasn't mad at her, he was begging her to prove his theory wrong._

"_I wouldn't have spent all this time with you if I didn't honestly care about you Squall!" She paused to figure out what words she should tell him next. "Look, you're the best friend I've ever had and…" No that wasn't it, he was way more than a friend to her but…_

_He gritted his teeth as the words flew out of her mouth. How pitiful he was… just because of a couple of words from her. Only one had been enough to make his heart ache so badly though… 'Friend'._

_She sensed his pain again. She had to tell him everything now or it would be too late._

"_Squall, listen…" She summoned up all her courage. "Every time you come running into the hall when you're late, I always smile because I'm so happy that you came… You give me so much happiness… When you talk to me about your day, when we mess around with the guards, when you laugh and smile…Even though you probably don't realize it, you're the reason why I smile."_

_Squall raised his head at that. He was completely at a loss for words. He looked over at her and noticed how red she was. She didn't stop her tirade there._

"_When you hold my hand I feel butterflies here…" She pointed to her stomach. Her feelings slowly overwhelmed her as she continued her speech fervently. "…And I can't help wanting to hold it forever! When you hold me close to you like you did a few hours ago, my brain goes wild and I feel the need to melt into you just to be closer to you! You always make me feel safe and happy, I'd want to spend a whole eternity with you! If a shooting star were to stream across the sky again like the night we met, that would be my wish, to never be apart from you!"_

_She paused to catch her breath. She was completely flushed by now and had her fist clenched against her heart. She had to tell him one last thing though._

"_So when I ask you if you would be my Knight, don't you even imagine it's because you're the only one I have as a 'default' to replace my father, the only reason is that I love you, you idiot!" _

_She closed her eyes tightly before opening them again. She hadn't even realized she had made her way in front of Squall in the passion of her outburst. Seeing he still remained silent after her confession she figured he hadn't got her point. So she took a deep breath and tried again._

"_I love you." It came out only as a whisper. She cursed herself for being such a moron._

_She started panicking. What if he didn't return her feelings? He would leave her…But he had promised! No, she couldn't hold it against him but…How would she stand her life in the castle without him? She would be all alone just like she had been before she had met him. Everything she had said was true…She wouldn't be able to smile anymore without him… But then again, there would be no one to care about it…_

_She hadn't noticed Squall taking a step closer to her while she was still imagining the possibilities of a life without him. Of course she was stunned when he grabbed her hand and brought her to him for a passionate kiss._

_Time stopped flowing for a while, Rinoa's mind went blank as she lost herself in the kiss. She rested her free hand on his heart and felt it racing just like hers as he brought his other hand up to cup her cheek tenderly. He would have cursed himself for always wearing his leather gloves if he weren't so busy right now._

_They parted after a while and time started passing by again. Tears of happiness were softly spilling from her warm brown eyes. Squall wiped them away and locked his gaze to hers._

"_I love you too."_

_She had never been so happy in her entire life. She smiled so brightly at him that he could do nothing but smile in response before kissing her again._

_This moment felt so perfect, it would be naive to think it wasn't transient… But right now all they both wanted was to be children who believed in fairy tales and wished on shooting stars._

* * *

**A.N/:** _Hey! I would like to thank everyone who reads this, even those I haven't heard of. Though if you liked this story, I would really love it if you left a review!_

_Also, I'm sorry for "prettiest flower there", I know it's one of the cheesiest lines ever but I couldn't resist!_

_Action will begin in the next chapter so, stay tuned!_


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N/:** _Sorry for the wait! Anyway, there will be a lot of action in this one, hope you enjoy it! Also, watch out for a little surprise..._

* * *

**-Chapter 5-**

Leon secured his gunblade in its sheath on his waist. They were back in Hollow Bastion and preparing for the final act of this twisted story. Yuffie had insisted on going this time since she had been left behind when they went to the Disney Castle. No one had ever seen her so determined. They were all ready and at the door when…

"Yo kiddos." Cid called from his seat in front of the great computer at the back of the room.

"What is it Cid!? We have to go now!" Yuffie cried out although she was the closest to the man.

"Take that with you." He handed what seemed to be a small black box to the young ninja it had a green button on it and some wires coming out. "It's a transmitter."

"A transmitter?" Yuffie said eyeing the small machine.

"If you're in trouble, just press the button and we'll try to send you help." Aerith explained.

"You'll try..? But…"

"Thanks guys. Now we have to get going." Leon cut in seriously. He knew they had no time to waste.

Aerith nodded before closing her eyes and joining her hands as if in a prayer. "Good luck."

They all nodded their goodbyes and walked to the castle at a brisk pace. The tension was high, none of them said a word during the trip to the castle's garden. Sora was surprisingly quiet. He held Kairi's hand to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. She was afraid of being a burden even when she knew how to fight but she still wouldn't let Sora and the others go without her. Yuffie kept fidgeting and checking her shuriken from time to time. She was never good at hiding her apprehension. Tifa kept walking beside Leon, not showing any kind of emotion. Her name wasn't Lockhart for nothing since- contrary to Yuffie- her façade was totally unreadable in this kind of situation. Leon walked in front of the small party, a determined look on his face. There was no room for doubt in his mind. It was a matter of hours before Rinoa wouldn't be able to hold on anymore. Thankfully, he knew exactly where to go to find the rune.

Finally they arrived in front of the maze. As expected from what the King had told them, the aura surrounding it was dark and evil, it was definitely the right place. Leon's soldier instinct resurfaced as he turned to face his comrades, figuring a small briefing was in order.

"Listen everyone, this maze is so big, you'd get lost in it for weeks if you don't pay attention. We're going to stick together."

"Got it!" Sora cut in.

"Moreover, since this place has been abandoned for years, the maze has probably become a den of monsters."

"My shuriken is ready!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Let's go save her, Leon." Tifa added in conclusion.

"One last thing." The tall man replied seriously. "Merlin told me some things about this maze. Since Maleficent has placed the rune here, there may be remnants of her magic lurking around…"

"What does that mean?" Kairi inquired perplex.

"We may see visions… Memories of our past trying to trick us and make us go away from the path. If that were to happen, don't hesitate. Do whatever you can to bring back the victim to reality. You might want to use your transmitter Yuffie."

The ninja nodded but then raised a hand to ask a question. "But Leon, how are we going to avoid getting lost in there..?"

"I know a way." He replied simply before stepping ahead of them and opening his arms towards the maze like Rinoa had done so long ago. He felt a chill run down his spine as a cold wind blew from the entrance.

"_Fithos. Lusec. Wecos. Vinosec."_

The ball of light appeared and soon a blue path winded between the hedges of the maze, showing the right way. The others stared in awe.

"How did you..?" Sora began completely astonished.

"Rinoa showed me…A long time ago." He enlightened darkly. He turned back to them determination clearly noticeable in his stormy blue eyes. "It'll take about an hour to get to the other side."

"Let's go." The others answered.

And so began the long trek in the maze. It wasn't at all like Leon remembered. The once bright green hedges had taken a dark grayish color as if infected by the malefic atmosphere. Fog stuck to the ground so that they could hardly see their feet.

Suddenly they heard shuffling in a corner. Leon halted, readying himself. A group of Heartless came out of the corner and charged directly at them.

"Heartless!? I thought there were no more of these around!" Sora exclaimed summoning his keyblade and stepping in front of Kairi who did the same with her own.

"These have been here since Maleficent's visit!" Leon explained while easily blocking one of the Heartless' attacks.

He slashed at the creature, making it instantly vanish in dark smoke. Some more came assaulting him but he easily defeated them.

"Leon, bend down!" Yuffie cried from behind him.

He did so and noticed the young ninja jumping into the air to throw her great shuriken at a powerful Heartless that was close to him.

"Thanks…" He said. Yuffie simply grinned not noticing the Large Body Heartless about to attack behind her. Leon sprinted towards it and gave a low blow to the Heartless' legs. The large enemy stumbled a bit but didn't have time to get back to its senses as Leon jumped into the air and literally cut it in two with a powerful strike using the trigger of his gunblade. "…But stay alert."

Yuffie nodded a bit stunned. The time of peace in Hollow Bastion hadn't damaged his skills in the slightest, he defeated every single monster that stood in his way in less than two minutes. His mission was way too important to waste time battling Heartless. Rinoa's life was at stake.

Tifa smashed the last Heartless to the ground with a skilled heel drop kick. "It didn't take long for them to stumble on us." She sighed.

"Let's keep going." Leon said.

They kept walking deeper and deeper into the maze's dark alleys. They encountered Heartless every now and then but it was nothing they couldn't handle.

"Wyverns?! How come are there wyverns in here?" Sora was bewildered. Not that he hadn't been training lately but…He was a bit of a 'lazy bum' as Kairi usually put it and…Old habits die hard. He was surprised at how easily Leon defeated every enemy they encountered though. Never had he seen the man fighting like that, with such determination in his eyes. _*I did tell him not to hold back when we used to train together…*_ maybe he should actually be glad that the man hadn't gone all out back then but Sora would never swallow his pride and admit it.

"Leon, when are we gonna be there? My feet hurt!" Yuffie complained.

The gunblader stayed silent and stiff. "Leon?" Yuffie asked again a bit worried.

Everyone turned to him. They were stunned when they saw the figure of a woman standing before him. It looked foggy and almost transparent.

"Squall." The phantom called.

"Is that..?" Kairi started with her mouth agape in surprise.

"No, it's not Rinoa. This is an illusion." Leon stated darkly.

"You don't recognize me? It's me, it's really me!"Ghost Rinoa pleaded, grabbing the ring on her necklace. How twisted was that? Playing with his emotions to drive him insane…

"Get out of my way."

"But Squall…" she made a grab for his hand but hers just went through his.

"Let's go." Leon told the others, avoiding the ghost's eyes. She wasn't real, she wasn't Rinoa. Not his Rinoa.

"No, you're not going anywhere! You left me alone in here for too long, don't you realize that!? You promised not to let me go!" Ghost Rinoa shouted.

"You're not the one I promised that to."

"Liar! Liar! LIAR!" The ghost screeched.

She leaped into the air and angel wings appeared in her back. Leon and the others didn't expect that. A flurry of feathers as sharp as razors appeared by her side and she sent them flying their way.

"Shield!" Kairi shouted casting a protection spell as she stepped in front of the others. A yellow dome surrounded them but instead of rebounding against the shield, the feathers cut in it and stayed stuck into it.

Kairi held on until the assault was over but stumbled to the ground as soon as it had stopped, greatly weakened.

"Are you alright!?" Sora inquired worried as he drew a potion out of a pocket in his shorts. Kairi nodded and drank it, waiting for its effect.

Meanwhile, the others were doing their best to dodge the fire balls ghost Rinoa was shooting at them.

"She's using Rinoa's techniques!" Leon shouted after avoiding one of the replica's attacks.

"What's her weak point!?" Tifa asked doing a back flip to dodge another fire ball.

"She masters all kinds of magic but… She's weaker against powerful physical attacks!" He recalled Rinoa telling him about it one day in the garden. He didn't fear their opponent might hear them since she was still crying out like a mad woman about him being a liar. "Yuffie, make diversion, Sora Tifa and I will attack at the same time!"

"You've got it!" The ninja replied with a wink. She positioned herself right in front of their foe. "Heeeeeeeeeey! Rinoaaaa!" She shouted to get the fake Sorceress's attention.

The ghost watched her seemingly annoyed. Crap, what does she say now? "Err…YOU'RE FAT!" Yuffie screamed out.

It enraged her and she prepared herself to cast a Meltdown spell straight at Yuffie. The giant magma ball started forming in her hands.

"Now!" Leon signaled.

They all launched at her. Leon pulled the trigger of his gunblade while slashing her twice and catching her off guard. Yuffie threw her big shuriken to cut her in the shoulder before it returned to her like a boomerang. Sora and Tifa timed their attacks to combo each other, after a keyblade strike, the martial artist finished off the replica by punching her straight in the face. The ghost landed hard on the ground. Tifa and Sora gave each other a high five.

Ghost Rinoa whimpered in pain trying to stand up. She cried out as a strange green light suddenly surrounded Tifa and Leon. He cursed under his breath. It was a poison spell. She used to boast about being pretty good at status ailment spells…

It was time for a finishing blow. Sora ran to the sorceress' replica and gave a monumental battle cry before striking her straight in the heart with his keyblade. She shouted in pain, falling to the ground and disappearing in a flow of white feathers.

"That was for hurting Kairi and my friends." Sora said proudly. "Are you guys all right?" he asked turning back to them.

"Can't complain." Yuffie said.

"I'm fine." Kairi reassured him.

"I'm ok…I guess…" Tifa said, looking questioningly at Leon.

"It was a poison spell. We're not gonna feel it instantly but it'll get worse with time." Leon explained examining himself for any sort of injury beside the poison. He only had a cut on his cheek from which came out quite a fair amount of blood. He wiped it away with the back of his hand.

"Oh, crap." Tifa cursed under her breath. "Can't that go away with a potion?"

"No, we'd need a medic. But we can't go back now." Leon said sternly. "We don't have much time left."

The leather clad woman couldn't tell whether he was talking about Rinoa or them but simply nodded as they started following the blue trail of light again. They had already been walking for a while before coming across Rinoa's replica so it didn't take them more than thirty minutes to get through some more Heartless and find the maze's exit. Fighting was getting way more difficult for Tifa and Leon because of the poison in their veins but they still held on.

"We're there." Leon stated.

In front of them was a lonely dark stone column that he didn't remember seeing on his former visits. There was a glowing flame like red symbol on it.

"So that's the rune?" Kairi inquired.

"Yeah."

"How do we destroy that?" Yuffie asked confused. "Do we just smash the whole column?"

"I don't think so… Queen Minnie said we would have to use the relic but didn't tell us how." Tifa explained.

"Oh well, I suggest we get this thing over with!" Sora exclaimed stepping closer to the rune with his keyblade in hand. He brought it up above his head preparing to strike.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted, trying to stop him.

It was too late, the keyblade had already collided with the rune and its wielder had been thrown away in a blast of red light. Sora slammed against the hard ground and Kairi went to kneel beside him.

"Start thinking with your brain would you!..." Kairi scolded him before continuing in a softer tone. "Are you alright..?"

"I…guess…" the spiky haired boy replied with a pained grimace.

Kairi pulled out their last potion from her item pouch and gave it to Sora who drank it eagerly.

"Now, I'm alright." He said standing up and retrieving his keyblade from the ground. "Who's the bastard who…"

"_Who are you to trouble my slumber..?"_ a low voice erupted from the column. The girls gasped, Leon readied his gunblade and Sora gave a surprised 'Huh?'

The rune on the column started to glow even more, wind circled around it fiercely before flames appeared around it and a beast came out of the fire roaring in anger.

"Are you the one keeping the seal that imprisons the Sorceress?" Leon asked through gritted teeth.

"_I, Ifrit, was given the task of protecting the seal by the great witch Maleficent." _The beast answered still surrounded by reddish smoke and ashes.

"Release her, or you'll die!" Sora cried out, joining Leon in front of the beast of fire with his keyblade in hand. He was soon followed by Kairi, Tifa and Yuffie.

"_Oh…So you wish to challenge me. Very well, I shall make you rot in Hell's fire!"_ The beast roared, its ruby red eyes sparkling.

They had to dodge quickly as Ifrit launched a wave of fire towards them. Leon did a back flip before charging at the beast for an experimental strike. He avoided its claws and sliced directly at the beast's chest while pulling the trigger of the gunblade to deal more damage. The monster barely flinched before throwing him away with a swipe of its strong arm. Leon stood back up to his feet with difficulty. He got a bad burn to the shoulder from the monster's attack.

Tifa and Sora ran to the monster for a combo attack like the one they had done to the replica of Rinoa back in the maze. Tifa easily avoided all the fire projectiles that were sent to them with her fast reflexes, she jumped and rolled with a rare elegance. Sora, on the other hand, did his best not to get hit with timed blocks and side steps. They finally were in range with the fire beast so Tifa jumped above its head to use her heel drop kick once again while Sora went to slash its abdomen as Leon had done. Their attack proved more successful but the moment of victory didn't last long. The beast quickly recovered and surrounded itself with flames, burning Tifa and Sora badly. They both fell to the ground near Ifrit as he prepared himself for a powerful strike with its claws. He didn't have time to hit them since Yuffie had thrown her shuriken and the beast got sliced in the face. It was enough of a diversion for Kairi to get Sora and Tifa away from the roaring beast.

Leon knew this battle was going to be hard if he didn't find the monster's weakness quickly. He tried remembering what Rinoa had told him… _'You'll see, foes who are affiliated to a certain element are easy to beat.'_ She had said once when he was telling her about one of the exams he had to take for the castle's academy. _'You just have to figure out what is their opposing element. It's very logical like, if you're against a monster that uses let's see… wind. You'll take him down more easily if you use thunder spells!'_ she had explained beaming.

Leon quickly processed the information before shouting. "Use water and blizzard spells! It's his weakness!"

Kairi nodded before casting a water spell towards the fire beast. It almost looked as if Ifrit smirked as flames were summoned in front of him. Water and fire collided and turned to vapor into the air. _*The spell isn't powerful enough.* _Leon realized astonished.

Tifa gave it a second try with a blizzaga. The ice was fast but not enough, a wall of flames appeared before Ifrit and the ice melted. He then stepped through the flames and threw fireballs around while still approaching Tifa. Yuffie got hit by the biggest projectile. The beast knocked down Sora and Kairi who were coming at him with their keyblades without a single effort. Tifa tried a couple powerful kicks and punches when the monster came close enough but he easily took them, not flinching the slightest and slammed her to the ground after grabbing the fist she was throwing at him for a punch.

Even knowing he was considerably weakened by the poison, Leon charged at Ifrit. He avoided the monster's claw the first time but couldn't make it the second time around. The beast kicked him in the ribs and he was sent a few meters away rolling onto his back. He was pretty sure he had broken at least three ribs. He couldn't move.

Ifrit's arms then his whole body took fire, the martial artist didn't expect that. She dodged the heavy strikes of the beast as best as she could but…With the poison streaming in her veins she was really weakened. The moment came when she couldn't see the fire monster's arm coming at her right and took the fervent blow directly in her stomach.

She landed hard on the ground. Air was knocked out of her.

"_Is that all you can do miserable mortals..? I'm quite disappointed, I hoped to have fun for a bit longer."_ The beast laughed.

Ifrit put his flaming hands above his head to finish off Tifa with both fists. But the very instant he was about to bring them down on her, a heavy sword made a deep cut onto his abdomen and he was heard roaring in pain.

"Sorry for being so late." A husky masculine voice said. Tifa could recognize that voice anywhere.

"Cloud!" She exclaimed but was quickly reminded of her poor state as she started coughing up some blood.

There he was, after all this time… It was exactly as he had promised, he came like a knight in shining armor when she was in a bind. The tall blond man with spikes defying gravity turned around to face her. She looked back into his unnatural azure eyes and she pulled out a smile, the best she could.

"Tifa!" he cried worried when he saw the blood in her hands after she finished coughing. "Aerith! They need your help!" he called out to the young woman who had been busy healing Yuffie.

"Here!" She hurried closer to Tifa and cast a powerful curaga (AN/: see notes).

"_Oh…We have new challengers…How entertaining…" _Ifrit roared.

Sora got up, slowly recovering from the blow from earlier. "How did you get here?"

After she was done with Tifa, Aerith went to cure Kairi and Sora. The boy's question was answered by the young ninja behind them.

"I called them with the transmitter when we were fighting the ghost back there. Turns out they still managed to help out." She retrieved her shuriken from the ground. "I didn't expect Cloud to come though!"

The blond just shrugged, separating his fusion swords into two different blades. "Let's leave the explanation for later and focus on the matter at hand." He turned to Ifrit who was still watching them, looking quite amused.

"I agree." Leon said standing up after Aerith had cured him and got rid of the poison with her healing magic. "Kairi, Tifa, keep an eye on Aerith and make sure she doesn't get hurt." He ordered. The martial artist and the red head girl nodded and led the green eyed woman closer to the maze's hedges where they weren't in range.

"Sora, Cloud and I are going to make the offensive, Yuffie, you have our backs."

"Roger!" The ninja shouted back readying her shuriken.

"_Hahaha! I have never had so much fun."_ Ifrit snarled.

They didn't waste any more time, they dashed towards the beast and dodged the multiple fire attacks that he tossed at them. Cloud attacked from above and slammed one of his swords onto the beast's head before chaining with a lateral strike with the other. The monster had more difficulty blocking such heavy swords but still kept going and counterattacked. The blond swordsman defended bravely and blocked the blow with both swords forming a cross. He pushed the claws away and sliced the beast's face with both blades, forming a deep X between its eyes.

The beast hollered in pain but didn't have time to react, Sora and Leon were already on him slashing deep cuts in his abdomen.

Ifrit jerked them away in an explosion of ashes and flames.

"_HELLFIRE!"_ the beast cried out his technique's name.

Ifrit's whole body caught fire yet again, he slammed his fist into the earth and roared, making the flames burn even harder around him. Suddenly, inferno erupted from the ground and went burning straight at the party in a giant wall of fire. They could do nothing to avoid it and took the blow the hardest.

They were all lying on the ground. Was it all over…? Did they do all this for nothing? Ifrit was about to give them the final blow. All his friends were going to die…Rinoa was going to die…

'_Don't give up… please!'_

Leon's eyes widened as he heard her voice in his head. _*…Rinoa…*_

'_You're almost there…It's not like you…To give up so easily.'_

Her voice was weak but it was definitely her. The gunblader got up slowly.

'_You know…What you have to do…'_

"Yes." He snatched the pendant the Queen had given him from his pocket. He examined it for a second before throwing it high above his head, he raised his gunblade and just as gravity was drawing the diamond rose relic back to the ground, Leon hit it in the air with his blade.

The others were starting to recover and watched astonished, thinking he had completely lost it.

Of course the diamond wasn't broken but instead of falling limply to the ground, it remained suspended in the air and started to glow blue. Ifrit realized what was about to happen and threw gigantic fireballs at the relic. It only shone brighter and made the fire disappear. There was a great flash of light and Leon had to place an arm before his eyes and to close them not to be blinded.

When he opened them again he found a blue woman standing among icy shards sparkling in the light before him.

"Who are you?" Leon couldn't help but ask. He certainly wasn't expecting that.

'_I am Shiva, the queen of ice. You called me?' _She replied in a cold yet soft voice.

He recovered from his shock and nodded. "I need you to take care of that guy over there."

'_Very well.'_

Shiva turned back to face a petrified Ifrit. The ice queen placed her hands above her head and light erupted from them.

'_No!'_ Ifrit cried desperately.

'_Diamond Dust.'_ Shiva announced coldly.

She threw the light at Ifrit and it turned to ice, imprisoning him. She then snapped her fingers and the ice shattered violently. Ifrit gave a loud cry of agony as he fell to his knees and disappeared in a dance of flames. Light erupted from the stone column where the flame symbol had been. When everyone opened their eyes again after the blast of light, the shining red rune on it had vanished, along with the ice queen.

Leon picked up the sparkling rose pendant as it had now fallen down and whispered. "Thank you."

"It's gone, the rune is gone!" Sora exclaimed.

"So that means…" Aerith started

"We have to go back to the castle." Leon declared.

"What are we waiting for then, let's go!" Yuffie cried out joyfully.

Leon refrained from smiling just yet since he still had to get back to Rinoa in time but a voice in his mind encouraged him.

'_See…I told you you could make it.'_

* * *

**A.N/:**_ Thanks to everyone who reads this story but know that it's almost over, only two more chapters to go. So if you liked this chapter it'd be awesome if you left a review!_

_As a side note, I really wanted Cloud to make an appearence since I'm also a big Cloti fan. I hope he didn't show up too out of the blue.^^_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6**_

The walk back to the castle was animated by Yuffie's constant babbling as she tried filling Cloud in on their adventures. The blond swordsman had kept listening for a good twenty minutes but found it more important to help Tifa with her limping when the young ninja started going into every single small detail she could find in the story…To Leon's great dismay.

"You should have seen his face, really he was..!"

"Yuffie, please stop." The gunblade wielder seethed trying to contain his irritation.

"Pff… Mood killer." The short girl stuck her tongue at him.

Then the young ninja got Cloud to explain how he ended up here in Hollow Bastion and came to help them. He said that he had only come back to their house in town to ask Merlin about something but had ended up walking in on Cid shouting around the room and not knowing what to do after Yuffie's call through the transmitter. At first he believed they would be fine, saying they were all experienced fighters but when Aerith mentioned Tifa being with them…

"Cloud, is that true..?" the martial artist asked bewildered.

"You really should have seen the look on his face…" the flower girl giggled after adding this element to the swordsman's tale.

"Oh, so you wanna join Leon's lover boy club!?" Yuffie exclaimed jokingly, trying to stifle her laugh.

"Whatever."

"Not interested."

Both men's voices were icy cold so Yuffie knew better than to further her point but couldn't help laughing still.

The rest of the trek was rather quiet after that. Leon would always walk in a brisk pace so that the others had trouble keeping up with him. A fire burnt inside him, Rinoa was going to be free. She was going to smile again…

"Hey Leon! Wait up!" Sora said a bit breathless.

He didn't even answer. Ignoring his painful limbs he continued walking even faster. The journey back lasted only a short hour because the greatest part of the Heartless inhabiting the maze had been taken care of previously. Soon the castle came into view and they all hurried inside after Leon. When they reached the right corridor, Sora tried to find the star shaped rune that opened the secret passage in which Rinoa was but Leon beat him to it. He practically ran down to the large room as the others followed closely behind. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs when they saw the still statued Rinoa in the middle of the room.

"Why is she still a statue!? We destroyed the rune!" Yuffie exclaimed throwing her arms in the air not understanding the situation.

"The King told us back in the castle." Kairi enlightened as she faced her keyblade wielding friend. "Sora, you were supposed to tell us how to break Maleficent's last curse."

All eyes turned to the spiky haired boy who was scratching the back of his head nervously. "Err… Well you see…"

"Don't tell me…" Leon started fearing that his friend actually didn't know what to do.

"No, no, no! Don't worry it's just that…"

"What? Tell us!" An annoyed Yuffie insisted.

"To free her…You have to kiss her." He finally said with his face reddening a bit.

Leon certainly didn't expect that. Everyone turned to him with wide eyes and for some, a devilish smirk.

"Aww…It's so cute…" Kairi said joining her hands, Aerith laughed at that.

"Shoot! I should have brought a camera!" Yuffie cursed. "Do you think it's too late to call Cid and..?"

"Shut it Yuffie." Cloud concluded as the young ninja pouted and stuck her tongue out at him. Leon couldn't be thankful enough.

"How come he has to do that?" Tifa inquired still surprised. Was that some kind of fairy tale? No…More probably a prank…

"Well…The King said that Rinoa was in the same state as Princess Aurora so…Yeah, you have to kiss her." Sora explained further.

"Don't tell us you don't want to!" Yuffie sniggered.

"Shut. Up." Leon said through gritted teeth as he tried to prevent a jet red blush from forming on his cheeks. This girl had to learn not to push the limits too far one day. He was pretty sure though that Rinoa would be laughing at him if she could hear them but then again…

He took a few steps towards the still petrified Sorceress stuck into the stone pillar and put his hands on her semi-swallowed shoulders. She was warmer than before, as if her skin was right behind the stone shell. He looked up at her face and contemplated her unchanging features. The same resigned look she had had for years…He brought a hand up to caress her cheek. It was time he ended both their suffering.

He leaned up and pressed his lips to her rigid ones in a tender kiss, ignoring the _'aww'_ sounds from behind. To him, it felt like they were alone in the flower field again, his mind blank and his heart beating fast.

A bright blinding white light suddenly started shining from the statue as Leon pulled away and took a few steps back to protect himself from it. They couldn't see anything for a while but when they opened their eyes…

There she stood in flesh and blood, a bit disconcerted but still there, _alive_. Now that he finally had her in front of him Leon couldn't believe his eyes. He did notice that she seemed slightly older, as if time hadn't stopped for her even when she was stuck as a statue for so long. Though, she still had the same ivory skin clashing with her silky raven hair. The same warm smile and chocolate brown eyes filled with tears of joy when she saw him. She tried taking a step closer to her Knight but her still weak body wouldn't let her. She staggered from left to right but Leon caught her in his arms when she was about to fall. He embraced her tightly, taking in her warmth, her scent, the feeling of her body against his…Everything he couldn't have during those long painful years.

"Squall…" she breathed out against his chest. He had changed a little, getting a bit more muscled if possible and had longer hair but she didn't mind. All that mattered was that she was there, in his arms once more.

"I missed you so much." He whispered into her ear, his voice cracking with emotion.

He released her from his embrace to have a look at her again. Tears ran freely down her cheeks but he wiped them away with his gloved hand and let it linger on her cheek for a moment. When he did so she touched the back of his hand with her own before returning to the comfort of his arms. She pounded a fist on his chest as if trying to hurt him.

"What took you so long, you meany!" she said with a still teary voice. He simply stroked her hair with the hand that had been resting on her cheek and held her close again. It felt so natural, so good to have her there again. He was so happy. Nothing could break this moment…At least that was what he thought until…

"Hum hum!" A voice erupted behind them.

He quickly turned to face Yuffie who had been the one clearing her throat. Rinoa wiped her last tears away before getting out of his arms to watch their small audience but she still held onto his arm for support.

"Aren't you going to introduce us Leon?" The young ninja inquired mockingly.

Rinoa turned to him with a quizzical look_. 'Leon?'_ Since when did people call him that? He smiled at her, understanding her unspoken question.

"It's Squall." He replied turning back to the girl who was bouncing in excitation.

"Oh then, Squall…" Yuffie grinned widely. "Introduce us to your girlfriend would you?"

"Well" He led Rinoa closer to the others. "This is Yuffie." He pointed at the small black haired teen who had been teasing him.

"It's 'the great ninja Yuffie' for you Squall!" She shouted feigning anger. "You can simply call me Yuffie though Rinoa!" she beamed at the raven haired girl who smiled back.

"Here you have Sora and Kairi." He said showing two younger teens, a boy with brown spiky hair and a red haired girl with blue eyes.

"Finally we meet!" The boy gave a boyish grin, extending his hand to her.

"Nice to meet you too." She replied shaking his hand. Kairi smiled and shook her hand too.

"That's Aerith." He pointed at a calm woman with beautiful green eyes who smiled peacefully at her.

"Nice to meet you." She said genuinely. Rinoa nodded to show she meant the same to her.

"Lastly, these two are Tifa and Cloud." Squall finished. He let her see a beautiful dark haired woman clad in black leather with ruby eyes and a tall man with blond spiky hair and piercing blue eyes. She smiled shyly at them and was rewarded by a warm smile from the woman and a low grunt from Cloud.

"Don't worry about him." Tifa reassured her. "I guess you know about the 'not talkative' type of men."

"Yeah, I sure do." She answered with a playful glance at Squall. The man just shrugged.

Her Knight had made a lot of friends. What a difference from what it used to be like in the past. Whenever they weren't together, they were always seen alone. Rinoa took a better look at all these people and suddenly became very well aware of their burnt and ripped clothes and the blood dripping from several cuts and gashes on them.

"You're all hurt!" She exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Yeah…We kinda had to fight a fire monster deity thingy…" Sora said scratching the back of his head again.

"I'll fix that…" the Sorceress started.

"Wait, Rinoa you're still weak." Leon stopped her by placing an arm in barrier in front of her.

"I don't care, it's the least I can do to thank you all." She replied with a determined look at him and a warm smile at the rest of the group.

"But…"

He couldn't finish his sentence when he felt Rinoa use his shoulder as a support to prop herself on her toes and whisper into his ear.

"Even if I'm tired, I'd kinda like it if you carried me back home…"

She grinned mischievously at him before bright green light formed in her hands and she cast her most powerful healing spell on all of them.

"Wow!" Sora exclaimed after inspecting himself. There wasn't the slightest trace of a scar or blood on his body anymore.

Rinoa snapped her fingers and white glitters circled around the party before they found themselves clad in the outfits they used to wear, only without any torn parts or stains.

"This is so awesome!" Yuffie cried out excitedly as she brushed herself free of the glitters.

"I could never cast such a powerful cure…" Aerith said amazed.

Rinoa smiled proudly before looking quickly at Squall whose gaze hadn't left her. She smirked devilishly.

"Oh…I'm going to faint! ~" She over-acted a bit but he still caught her when she feigned falling backwards.

"You can't let me walk when I'm so tired now, can you my dear knight?"

He'd been tricked. She had gained back her strength in a matter of minutes after she was freed. He picked her up bridal style with a sigh. She giggled discretely once comfortably installed against his chest.

"I like this girl! I swear Rinoa, we're gonna be best pals ever!" Yuffie shouted enthusiastically.

"Sure thing Yuffie!" She replied with a wink.

"Whatever" Squall let slip quietly.

The young Sorceress giggled a bit more before smiling up at him, knowing that he would still be surveying her. She nuzzled closer to him content with the sound of his heart beating loudly in his chest. How good it was to be back.

* * *

**A.N/:** _One more chapter to go! To those who read this, thank you very much and...Stay tuned!_

_Also if you like this story, __(kneels and gives everyone puppy eyes with glitters) __please review !_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Transient Eternity.**_

**Chapter 7**

One thing Rinoa had decided right away after being freed some hours earlier was to treasure every day, every hour that she spent with Squall and her new friends, trying to make up for lost time. Yuffie had brought up the idea of a party on the very moment they had stepped into their house in town. She hadn't stopped babbling about it ever since so the president of Hollow Bastion's restoration committee -Squall- had had to give in eventually. Cloud had decided to stay in town a bit longer…Yuffie had really insisted … So did Tifa. The young ninja had somehow managed to turn Cid's big computer into a stereo, Tifa had hurried to the kitchen to prepare some food and drinks and the others were left –forced- to dance despite their soreness after the battle against Ifrit.

What was supposed to be a 'welcome party' for Rinoa soon turned into a wild feast. Yuffie was so overexcited she was almost running no, skipping from one side of the room to the other to babble about some nonsense she just made up. Aerith said it didn't matter that she acted like a feral beast as long as she was having fun and didn't annoy the others too much, to which Squall responded by his usual 'whatever' before coming to Rinoa's rescue as she was Yuffie's current victim. He tried to lead her outside but the young ninja girl wouldn't have that and Rinoa ended up dragging him back to the dance floor…Never was this event to be mentioned again…

At some point, Squall managed to drag his Sorceress upstairs when Yuffie seemed so high in delirium she wouldn't notice Cid swearing. Rinoa held tightly onto his hand as they climbed up the stairs and finally reached a door leading to a small tidied room with an open window through which the full moon provided a dim bluish light.

"Is this your room?" She inquired.

"Yep." He let go of her hand and walked to the large window to lean onto the sill. His body faced her but his gaze was cast to the starry sky. His steel blue eyes seemed to glow brightly in the moon's shine.

"I guess it's mine too then." She stated trying to hide her amusement as she already knew how he would react to that.

"What!?" The expression on his face was priceless as he now looked at her with his eyes wide like saucers. "I thought you'd prefer sharing with Aerith or Tifa."

"Well no…I was hoping to share with you, if it's alright." She smiled cutely at him.

"…Sure." He sighed. It wasn't really a problem, he was just surprised. After all they had never shared a room before, even less a bed.

She flashed him a bright smile and walked closer to him by the window. He turned his body and followed her gaze to watch the stars but was caught off guard when he suddenly felt her grip his hand tightly.

"I missed you so much."

Squall faced her again but she wasn't looking at him. The gentle moon's light made her hair and pale skin glow and her brown eyes now looked as if they had an azure tint in them. She looked so beautiful…

"When I was imprisoned…"she struggled to keep going and tell him now so that this chapter of her life would be over. "I was asleep most of the time but… Sometimes I would 'wake up'." She cast him a quick glance and even though his eyes never left the starry heavens, she knew he was listening intently.

"I mean…My mind would awake sometimes and I would find myself surrounded by nothingness…Everything was dark… I was so scared.

"Rinoa…" He tried to stop her, sensing her pain as she told her tale of solitude.

"I tried to reach you" she continued "but my powers were blocked. It was only when Ifrit was on the verge of defeat that I could feel our link again." She paused to look at him for a second her eyes filled with what seemed to be relief as she pulled out a small smile. "I found myself in a flower field, just like ours but it felt more like a dream. I started hearing your thoughts again so I knew my powers were slowly coming back even if I was so weak."

"I heard your voice."

"I'm glad you did. But Squall, I know you so I'll ask you as a Sorceress to her Knight." She said in a serious tone.

"What is it?" he inquired hiding his surprise.

"Do not blame yourself for what happened. I swear it wasn't your fault, my father sent you to the battlefield because he was jealous of you being my Knight."

He lowered his head. "…I still shouldn't have left you…Even if it was an order from the general himself."

"Squall… I beg you, don't live with that guilt. It could ruin everything!… If not for your Sorceress, then do it for the girl you love."

He turned back to her a bit shocked. She was truly begging him, it was written in her eyes. He couldn't forgive himself that easily…She could have died if he hadn't come in time…Because of him she had lost years of her life…But he did have years to grieve about it all.

"It'll take time…" he started. "…But I will." _*Or at least I'll try*_ he thought.

The slightly surprised look on her face told him she had heard that last part. He cursed in his head and soon a warm smile appeared on her face as she went to hug him gently.

"You never change." She spoke softly against his shoulder.

She was still smiling when she parted slightly from him and silence filled the room for a moment. Then she regained her playful tone…With a tinge of shyness only he could perceive.

"You know… I couldn't really feel _it_ when you freed me…"

He seemed taken aback by what she had just implied. "What…?"

"You know what I mean." She tried to hide the devilish smirk creeping on her lips but failed miserably. He remained frozen stiff. He really hadn't changed a bit…

His eyes returned to the night sky and she did the same. Just as she stared at the distant glow of the stars, a light shot across the sky. She gasped and pointed at the shooting star with her slender finger.

"Squall, look…!"

She couldn't finish her sentence as her Knight brought her closer and crashed his lips on hers for a long awaited and passionate kiss. They had both been longing for this perfect moment for so long.

All their feelings came back in a rush. Not that they had ever been gone but they had been buried, slumbering much like Rinoa had for the past few years…They never died or disappeared. Now that they were finally reunited they felt complete. All the touches, feelings and warmth were back, as if they had never been apart for so long. The hands that she placed on his chest to feel his heartbeat, the ones he used to stroke her hair and hold her close to him.

"How I missed that…" Rinoa whispered with her eyes still half closed when they parted for breath. Even then, their faces were still mere inches apart from each other. Squall kissed her forehead sweetly before bringing the hand that used to play with her hair to cup her cheek tenderly.

"So did I." he admitted in a murmur.

Silence engulfed them once more but it was fine. It was calm and peaceful and they wished it would last, so glad to be together again. Squall leaned in slowly again but he was way too hopeful…

"Aww…"

"Get a room you two!"

The couple turned their heads to see three teen's heads coming out of the crack of the door: Kairi, Sora and Yuffie on top. They looked like a totem in such a position. Squall gave them his trademark death glare though he still wouldn't let go of his dear Rinoa who just stared a bit puzzled as she was not used to life in such crazy people's house yet. Seriously, why would they come all the way upstairs to bug them? Besides, Yuffie's comment didn't even make any sense since they were already in his room.

"I never thought he was such a romantic…" Sora let out bewildered.

"Yeah! You'll soon have to come to him for advice!" Yuffie beamed mockingly.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Both Kairi and Sora burst out at the same time.

"Out of here. Now." Squall interrupted their small conversation in a dangerous tone, glaring daggers at them.

"Okay, fine." Yuffie gave up still in a too amused tone to Squall's taste. "We'll leave you guys do whatever…Just don't be too noisy okay!~" Yuffie waved and winked before making her exit and yanking-literally- the other two out of the room with her. Rinoa sighed relieved that they didn't have to use extreme means to get the teens away.

"I swear I'm gonna kill that brat one day."

She giggled lightly. "You sure have interesting friends…"

"Whatever…" He chuckled.

They stayed silent under the moonlight for a moment after that. She had her hand on his beating heart when he shyly placed his eyes on her once more. She just smiled warmly before he closed the short distance separating their lips again.

Even though moments like these were always transient, they knew that there would be others. Other times they would treasure and engrave in their memories forever. _Transient_ moments that together formed an _Eternity_.

* * *

~Epilogue~

"Good job guys, this'll make great blackmail later on!" Yuffie beamed as she held her small camera above her head.

"Aww but they were so cute…" Kairi couldn't help but add.

"Kairi…" Sora sighed, still under the shock of Yuffie's comment earlier. If he ever found himself asking Squall for romantic advice then he'd know there was truly a problem with him…But looking back at what they had seen in the gunblader's room…

"Oh come on Sora! The way he held her close like that! And how he kissed her on her forehead…And…Aww" The read-head clasped her hands together and pouted cutely at the memory. "I wish I had a Knight like Rinoa…"

"Hey! But…!"

Sora was seriously considering going back to Squall and ask him about girls now. How did he fall that low!?

"Come on Kairi, you're getting lover boy number 3 upset here." Yuffie yawned. It was already almost one in the morning.

"Sora is number 3? Err… Who are number 1 and 2 then?" the young girl asked hesitantly as they got to the bottom of the stairs and back to the living room where the others were chatting calmly on the sofa with Merlin who had recently joined in the party.

"Can't you guess!?" Yuffie said in disbelief. "Lover boy number 1's our supposed 'friend' upstairs and number 2 is the chocobo head over there." She pointed at Cloud who instantly cast her an annoyed look.

"What's a chocobo (AN/: see notes)?" Kairi inquired again as she was trying to comfort the still recovering Sora.

"You're dead." Cloud dangerously glared at the young ninja. Tifa tried to suppress her laughter but to no avail. She blushed in amusement and embarrassment as the blond swordsman looked at her as if to say _'Not you too…'_

"Never mind… There's way too much love in this house! I'm off!" Yuffie cried in exasperation as she watched the two on the couch and Kairi & Sora beside her. She lazily walked out of the room and went to hers on the ground floor.

"Dammit, wait Yuffie! Get me some godamn tea while you're at it!" Cid shouted after her.

The ninja got out of the living room in a slow pace and left everyone in silence. Nobody dared say a word. Merlin stroked his beard in confusion and Tifa & Cloud kept exchanging puzzled looks.

"What's got into her?" Kairi finally asked.

Aerith giggled "Who knows…"

_-End-_

* * *

** Final note :**

Hey!First thing off, I want to precise that English is actually not my mother tongue! France loves Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts! 3

Ok so here are my thanks:

-To everyone that actually read that story! I cannot thank you guys enough! Cookies to all.^^

-To aniseed sweets (my best friends besides my computer, pencil and PSP)

-To Square –Enix because they make such awesome games, characters and stories.

-To Kingdom Hearts wikia and because I wouldn't have made it without this site.

Feedback is always appreciated, even if you didn't lmike this story all that much, I'll take any advice to improve my style!

Also, even if it's been ages, you can still leave a review! I read all of them! Plus it'll prove that Squinoa isn't dead!;)

See you all next time(or check out my profile to read one of my other stories)!


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